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smallestopenerIngress had a brilliant birthday. She’s eleven. Eleven is nearly grown up! It’s also the year when children in the stories she’s read come into their own. Adventures begin, schooling starts, worlds are saved… she can hardly wait to see what will happen next.
Her party earlier was such fun. Door was almost nice to Puck; Ingress had worried a little about that after she invited him. But he was very nice and charming, and Tom was nice, too, and Puck helped Ingress steal lots of roses off the cake while Havelock talked to Tom and Door, and it was brilliant.
She ate far too much icing sugar, but Tom had the peppermint potion waiting for her when the party was over. She feels much better now. And she’s eleven!
It sounds so good in her head. Eleven, eleven, eleven.
She should have asked Mary to stay the night with her, she thinks, as she tosses and turns. She’s never going to fall asleep, even with staying up past her bedtime. Tom and Door insisted she go to bed after she started yawning. They can be so silly sometimes.
She tosses one more time, and she thinks, again, how impossible it will be to go to sleep tonight. Her eyelids flutter and close. It is not long before she’s deep in dreams.
Her party earlier was such fun. Door was almost nice to Puck; Ingress had worried a little about that after she invited him. But he was very nice and charming, and Tom was nice, too, and Puck helped Ingress steal lots of roses off the cake while Havelock talked to Tom and Door, and it was brilliant.
She ate far too much icing sugar, but Tom had the peppermint potion waiting for her when the party was over. She feels much better now. And she’s eleven!
It sounds so good in her head. Eleven, eleven, eleven.
She should have asked Mary to stay the night with her, she thinks, as she tosses and turns. She’s never going to fall asleep, even with staying up past her bedtime. Tom and Door insisted she go to bed after she started yawning. They can be so silly sometimes.
She tosses one more time, and she thinks, again, how impossible it will be to go to sleep tonight. Her eyelids flutter and close. It is not long before she’s deep in dreams.
Re: Green grow the rushes, oh
Date: 2010-05-19 05:39 pm (UTC)She shivers at the mention of Flagg. She barely remembers that name from other stories told long ago. She knows he is the cold howl in the dark. He is the blacknes that awaits the valiant, the hero, the girl trying her best. She'll face the King of the Lost any day.
A purple butterfly lands on her hand.
"Can I stay? Will you tell me more stories?"
Re: Green grow the rushes, oh
Date: 2010-05-19 05:53 pm (UTC)"This is the last story," he says. "And when it's over... the rest of the way I go alone."
They pass now under the wide branches of an apple tree; behind here, the path slips down a gentle heathery slope to an open place. A clearing.
"From the waterfall, along the water's edge and deeper into the woods. In the darkest, deepest woods she found a fool. His name was Bob, and he had been sent into the wilderness for one too many bad jokes at court. Kings can be touchy."
"When he saw her, he fell to his knees and plead for her hand in marriage. She was very beautiful, like all the daughters of Gan, and he was very silly, and you can get away with a lot if you make it a joke."
He pauses under the shade of the tree; here time is space is thought, and here is the gentle edge of night; the sweet twilight.
(Just as the brutal tangolight that comes just past sunset is cruel, though we love the day and fear the night. On the edges, things shift and trade places.)
"And Chloe laughed, and said 'no.'"
"And then Bob made his true offer. Because, he said, he couldn't give her a place to shelter or his protection or any fine gifts. He had no home and no kingdom and nowhere to lay his head. But they were lost there, together, and he would go with her as long as she would have him, and he would keep her company, and give her what comfort he could."
"And Chloe said, 'I don't care,' and she went on, and Bob followed after. And he gave her--" Eddie reaches up and plucks one from the tree and tosses it to her; one for himself. "An apple."
"And for the first day and night Bob never stopped talking," Eddie goes on, "and Chloe said nothing. And on the second day and night Bob said nothing," he tells her, "and neither did she."
"And on the third day, Bob said, 'do you know where we're going? Only you walk with such purpose.'"
"And Chloe said, 'don't you know the way out of the woods?' and Bob said, 'Alas, I do not.'"
"And Chloe said, 'it's easy.'"
He grins.
"'The way out of the woods is to keep walking.'"
He bites the apple. With purpose.
Re: Green grow the rushes, oh
Date: 2010-05-19 06:52 pm (UTC)She holds the apple to her face and breathes in the sweet scent. Apples are symbols of promise - life encapsulated within red skin, succulence to hold the cold of winter at bay.
They also taste delicious and keep you going as you make your way through the forest.
"I'll keep walking. You know why?"
Re: Green grow the rushes, oh
Date: 2010-05-19 08:22 pm (UTC)(In his favorite version of this story, there's only one man, with three faces. In that version of the story, Chloe becomes--Chloe is--the sun, crossing the sky bravely and eternally, carrying her father's brand; and the one who loves her lags behind, drawing near and falling back, turning from light to shadow, and once in a long, long while stealing a kiss.
But it's only one version of the story. And there are so many stories about the moon.)
He wonders what she'll do with what he's made for her; he wonders what she'll make for herself, too.
"What's that, Loompa?"
Re: Green grow the rushes, oh
Date: 2010-05-19 08:46 pm (UTC)She points to her heart.
"And here." She points to her head.
"They will always help me find my way and keep my feet walking. They will help me fly."
Re: Green grow the rushes, oh
Date: 2010-05-19 08:53 pm (UTC)He hugs her tightly, and kisses the top of her head.
"Can I borrow your jacket?"
He's going to look kind of silly with a daisy dangling from the zipper; but Eddie Dean has never worried about looking like a fool.
(Fill him, Chloe, with strength.)
Re: Green grow the rushes, oh
Date: 2010-05-19 09:22 pm (UTC)She hands it to him, and then she flings her arms around him. Her arms are stronger now from hefting swords and hand-to-hand grappling. They hold him tightly.
"I love you."
Her voice is muffled by his chest.
Re: Green grow the rushes, oh
Date: 2010-05-19 09:27 pm (UTC)"I love you, too, Loompa."
"Time's up," he says after a moment. "You head back the way we came, now. From here on out I'm on my own."
Re: Green grow the rushes, oh
Date: 2010-05-21 02:12 am (UTC)She does not say goodbye to Eddie, but she waves once, sad and solemn before she turns. She walks at first, but then she starts running again, because she can. It's a joy to run with butterflies leading the way and green leaves overhead.
Stories have to end. They stay with you until the next one begins.
You might be all by yourself, but you are never alone with stories to guide you.
Re: Green grow the rushes, oh
Date: 2010-05-21 04:36 pm (UTC)He plants the apple core.
The story ends there. What comes next, you'll have to make up for yourself.