Fresh air...

This winter passed as quickly as any other. For me, a single season is little more than a blink. Still with the loss of Sam and with all the time that Jo has spent among humans or with her mother, somehow it was a colder darker season than usual.

But spring has come and mostly gone and above my cave the world is warming to what I hear is expected to be a hot summer. Down here of course there is little change. The same cool stone. The same still air. The same everything.

Until yesterday when a gust of sweet fresh air rushed through the caves. So sudden and new it was a shock and a welcome one. I followed the breeze back to find the source -- a cave in. Sunlight, the first I've seen in several hundred years streamed through the cracked rocks and spotted the drab stone like a splash of golden paint. For a moment, I believed my prison door had finally been opened.

Freedom.

But it wasn't to be. Despite the warm touch from the sun, the path was not open for me. I tried to push through but was stopped at once.

So why am I not pissed off? Because for once, I was treated better than an animal. Rather than lock me away or knock my ass out cold, C talked to me. Shit we probably talked for an hour or more. Honestly he talked while I just soaked up the sunshine. But during his sharing something changed.

Hell, everything changed.

I asked him about Vinola. I always do. He is the god of reincarnation. When I lost Vinola all those years ago he promised to find her for me. So I always ask. But this was the first time he had any news. She has not been recovered. She has not been reincarnated. When she is, I'll finally be freed. According to C that time hasn't come yet. But it will be soon. He said soon.

Soon I will have her in my arms.

And until then, the cave in will be left as it is, so that the sunshine might break through into my darkness one small crack at a time.

J