💜Clouds of Mierre; esp.dix-neuf
19. Mierre returns with intention; a poem+short story (633 wc)
lil starlings refer to the last post if you missed her last adventure.
desert thunder
As the rain fell, her clouds darkened. frightened, only slightly, she had many questions from behind the comfort of her window— But that young heart was looking for something else. Something more. With a heart as brave, as it was curious, she yearned for an interior world she wished to visit…
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dunes and pyramids
Mierre’s new journey was set in the middle of the vast desert, expansively achy and welcoming of her curiosity. Only her eyes glued to the destination ahead. Far along the path stood the miraged sight of an immense pyramid. It’s mystery daunting, haunting her with taunts of the truth she desperately wants.
She sat on the leather mahawi, alive and rode the brown camel in silence. The handsome fellowman, with his countenance hidden, led their path and spoke with grandeur.
“This place is like no other for a journey-woman, perfect for those who have the innate desire to know. So open to the unknown that it has no name.”
Mierre spilt the first name that popped in her head and named the desert terrain—
Cairo.
It was a simmering day break. Dark gray clouds grew privy to hover over Mierre’s head. Seconds later the midday sun peeked, burned the protective scarf around her face and neck. The faded moon loomed over the sandy apex, cherishing and subtly ordering her steps. But her pulse palpitated. Questions are unwanted barriers.
“How much longer before we get there?” Mierre pointed.
“Don’t lack patience yet.” The fellowman chuckled, “not before we push a little harder.”
Mierre inhaled the thin air, her chest tightening as she breathed out.
Sand dunes appeared before them, scattered and varied in size on the path. They climbed over small hills reminded Mierre of the thunderstorms brewing in her distant memory.
“Why is it so far away?” she asked.
“To keep the journey-women at bay,” said he, matter-of-fact.
“How do you know that’s true?”
“I don’t.”
Mierre gazed at the pyramid’s wavy blur. The camel’s hooves sink deeper into the sands, long dark lashes inch low, preventing the granular brown sugar from impeding her vision, silently preparing for the incoming.
“What’s being kept away?” Mierre asked the Fellowman. As the inclines rise, sweat breaks from their skin from the scorching rays, their scarves’ purpose failing them.
“Whatever you want ,” he said, nonchalant. “That’s why it’s so hard to walk, talk, why most people just don’t bother.”
Dusty, grainy winds brushed over their squinted eyes. The fellowman’s arm couldn’t serve as much justice as he wished for it to. The dunes became difficult to conquer. She climbed over high inclines as steep as her will.
“I still want to know,” states the firmness in Mierre’s tone.
They come to stop. Dust and grains ceased their rage as they approached a massive hill.
The fellowman faced her with dark eyes that confronted his concerns.
“Are you sure to move forward from here?” he asked, knowingly.
Mierre glanced at her goal and nodded fervently. The fellowman’s eyes softened and he reached behind him, pulling out the tiniest flower—a violet rouge rose whose stem curled around his index finger as if it were alive. He pulls his mask down, revealing his welcoming face as if he were her close neighbor.
“It takes courage to wonder,” he says, sweetly. “But it takes joy to see it through.”
The fellowman gestured her to lean downward where he placed the flower in the pretty mess of curls in her hair, its stem tickled the back of her ear as it tucked in for security.
His final look of her was that of an painter observing a masterpiece he spent hours creating. A proud smile stretched across his face in approval. It was the safety she needed to move forward on her own path. As Mierre stumbled ahead upon the brown camel, her high spirit gave her courage to see through them. The distance between her and the pyramid looked to have barely shrunken.
But as sun rose beside her and dark clouds faded into nonexistence, the blurry mirage of the pyramid became clearer and much closer than she believed to be.
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a/n: this should have been up on tuesday, but its here now 🙃. let me know what you think!