spinning yarns from heartstrings
Fern said she knew a place he could go, a hideaway that the sun never reached and the ice was miles thick. Drifts of snow swept in on the howling winds, packing tight against the caverns for insulation. She’d take him, and he could make a home there, revel in the ice storms as they […]
Even with the strange breathing apparatus, Dr. Yuna Song was sure she would hyperventilate. Excitement quickened her heart rate; her whole body trembled. The stream of bubbles escaping her air tube obscured H’tkeh’s strange, alien face when she turned to them and tried to smile around the the cumbersome mouthpiece. H’tkeh reached out and took her […]
Consumed by the rage of separation from their children, the mothers on the other side of the tyrant’s wall let that rage devour them until they were nothing more than a foul, poisonous mist light enough to rise above it, but heavy enough to destroy anything that stood in their way.
Husbands and fathers told them they could not go to war because it was not a woman’s place. When none of the husbands or fathers returned after the last battle, Sakura told Ichika that the only way their children would survive when the Oda came was if they picked up swords and proved those dead men […]
Uniforms were to be worn at all times, most especially on the march. A single body out of line subjected itself to punishment. A button undone, a boot unpolished–some said these were infractions severe enough to incur death. Every day Iris tested the water to see how much she could get away with. Monday she put […]
Two hundred years, he’d served loyally, a faithful playmate to the Miyuzaki children as they grew, a confidant worthy of their prepubescent daydreams and, later, their adolescent fears about a world too large and cruel to keep them innocent. He never allowed himself to favor one more than the others, but Saeko was different. From the […]
Six months, he searched for it: the wish sword. Dull of blade, but sharp with power, whosoever found it was granted the power of a single wish to change their life. All throughout the lonely quest, he thought about what he might do with that wish when he found it. He could have riches, prestige, power […]
She said the answers would come when the time was right, told me to watch the waves for my salvation. She said, “When at last you learn your lesson, Amelia, the key to your freedom will wash ashore.” A hundred years I waited, and finally it had come: permission to shed my isolation and mark my […]
I already know what’s out there. I remember the wind in the grass, the whispers of the chaff, the subtlety of the waves lapping at the shore. He wants me to see what’s out there so I miss it, so I ache for the freedom he’s taken away, but he doesn’t know what’s in here. […]
“Hmm?” Rough as sand, his deep voice cut through the silence, but she didn’t startle. Instead she asked again, “Will it always be like this?” He wanted to lie to her. Yes—that was the word she wanted to hear, the promise he should make, even though it would be impossible to keep—it will always be […]