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March 24, 2001

Reaching Within

"Damn, damn, DAMN!"

Mirabel cursed and banged her hand on the table as she failed, again, to calm her mind enough to begin the working.

"Calm down, lass," Caelyn admonished her. We've worked out the basic structure, now you just need to focus. I've seen you in meditation this deep before when you needed to.. But you're letting emotion and urgency cloud your thoughts. Just relax."

Mirabel frowned and took a deep breath. Her mind turned inward, and she listened to the beating of her heart.. its deep rhythm made music with the wind through the trees. She felt the warmth of the fire, it touched her skin, and as she felt the heat travel inward, she attached a thought to it, and followed along.

She let her consciousness slip along this path, following the tendril of heat as it moved more inward until it reached her core. Still breathing deeply, listening to her heart, she was completely at peace.

She did not let herself rejoice, she merely existed in this moment for what seemed forever.. and a split second later, her consciousness began to expand, to search her entire body, studying in more minute detail than she had ever allowed. Scars of old wounds, mental and physical, were laid bare to her all-seeing mind.. Damage done and healed, mostly. She was not the patient.

She nodded once and Caelyn reached out to touch her hands. It was almost jarring enough to break her trance, but she did not falter.. she sent a probing thought along the path and began to search Caelyn.

Old injuries, many.. A great peace and security of mind here.. ah, but what is this? He hadn't mentioned any heart trouble. Mirabel prodded at it tenatively and it bared its teeth at her, wasn't going to relinquish its hold on her master without a fight..

Target acquired, she thought, and opened her full mind to the task at hand.

Immediately she was falling into Caeyln, submerging herself in the troubled muscles that screamed at her invasion.. she distantly felt him squeeze her hands sharply, heard an intake of breath, as if it pained him.. she must be careful.. but she was being overwhelmed with sensation, noise, the crackle of something like electricity as she moved within his heart.. she envisioned all she knew of the structure of this organ, her many hours of study allowing her to see it as it should be, clearly.. and drawing on what she saw in front of her, the two compared.. Plucked part out, fashioned new, replaced... over and over, a thousand resurrections it seemed, and so little repaired.. but repaired! it was repaired. That small bit, repaired.. and she could not maintain this, she could not...

Caelyn started a little as Mirabel fell over, he looked at the clock and realized they had been at this for several hours.. the child was exhausted.. HE was exhausted, but.. he felt.. better. Somehow better. He pulled a blanket over Mir and leaned back in his chair, thinking.. It must have worked, on some level, no? He searched his own body for confirmation.. and yes, she had found it, the trouble he had not mentioned, it came with age in his family and he -was- getting old, he smirked. She had found it.. and she had relieved it. Not cured. It would return. But she had held it off.

At what cost? She slept like the dead.

Was this Ivy worth such?

Posted by Keith at March 24, 2001 7:51 AM

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