(Untitled)

[vicarious_v]

V had been quite worried when he found out Lan was no-where to be found.

He was even more worried when he received a message from her, asking for a safe place to hide. He'd told her his home was safe, and it was. SHe would arrive shortly.

Now he waited. He'd never found waiting more difficult in his life.

Comments

[nightflowering]

There is a gentle *poit!* of a PINpoint and Lan finds herself back at V's home. She looks exhausted: her colours are muted, she's more skittery than usual and most obviously, her left arm is bandaged up.

[vicarious_v]

"What's happened?" he asked. He knew better than to approach too quickly, yet he was at her side with alacrity enough.

[nightflowering]

She doesn't startle, but it's an effort. "I've had a rough week. I think I should sit down, before I do anything else. Mind the stitches, please."

[vicarious_v]

He carefully guides her to the couch, sitting nearby. The bandage worries him, though it only shows in his movements.

...the next day!

[nightflowering]

[-text-] V, thank you for letting me stay the night. I've gotten you a bit of a gift. When would you like me to drop it off? Lan Abhaya.

Re: ...the next day!

[vicarious_v]

[-text-] It was no problem. And thank you. Anytime during the day would be ideal. V [-/text-]

[nightflowering]

In that case! There is a knock at the, umm, wall? Door? Portal? Whatever is the most proper way to enter.

"V?"

[vicarious_v]

V is there, happily hanging a large painting on the far wall.

"Hullo, Lan. Do come in. Would you like some tea?"

[nightflowering]

Dear V,
I had to move from my place in London. Should you ever find yourself in Tbilisi, here's my new address. I think you'd like the place. I've a high-walled garden, a dusty old library that will soon be clean, and many hidden rooms.
   -- Lan.

'My Name' by Mark Strand
One night when the lawn was a golden green
and the marbled moonlit trees rose like fresh memorials
in the scented air, and the whole countryside pulsed
with the chirr and murmur of insects, I lay in the grass
feeling the great distances open above me, and wondered
what I would become-and where I would find myself-
and though I barely existed, I felt for an instant
that the vast star-clustered sky was mine, and I heard
my name as if for the first time, heard it the way
one hears the wind or the rain, but faint and far off
as though it belonged not to me but to the silence
from which it had come and to which it would go.