We're all getting stronger.

They stopped showing each other their beautiful veils and began to see one another.  To love one another.

She was becoming a conduit--no longer claiming ownership over the beauty she created spanning one plane and the other.  Therefore taking ownership of herself, her essence.  She there, she here.  She arrived in Now.

We learned how we are at once water and entire.  Subject to the source and a vessel for it.  And we did not lose ourselves so easily now.

She took a deep breath and let the false tree crumble to ash.  She pulled out root after root, wincing with the pain but not closing her eyes.  Felt the cold air bite into all the empty spaces she'd made.  Spaces for truth to grow, for love to warm.

She took another breath and before she could think was spun into a tango.  Her steps were clumsy, unsure, but genuine.  She feared more pain when she saw another face smile at her, but kept dancing.  She found she had no more bricks to put around her, suspected she'd hidden them from herself in a dream.

She returned a love letter from the distant North a few days later, in her own words.

Together, many of them dug up the box they'd locked the Scale in long ago.  Another breath, opened it, looked.  Saw how they had to take all of the balance, love it all.

She grew very sick with the knowledge of what she had to leave behind.  She suffered three fevers, felt her blood killing things she never thought she would see die.  And as her skin cooled, she felt all of her, breathing.  Her eyes adjusted to the light, her lips and throat gradually found their strength again.  While she waited, she played with colors and water.

"Can I have you?" (Everyone and everything asked.)

"You do."





dedicated to my Loki family, many of whom I am loving from a distance. With love, xoxoxoxoxo Jack Jack.