Iris Snapping
Ayame means Iris. Sitting as still as he possibly could, Ayame tried to ignore the not-so-hushed 'whisperings' of his parents behind him. Iris. A flower...a bird fluttered close to the water, its' wings too fast to see except as a blur. A hummingbird.
Watching the flurry of activity, Ayame could feel the energy inside him trying to spring forth, to join the busy movements. His arms were dying to spread forth as something trembled up his throat to accompany the gesture. It didn't matter what, anything would do!
No, he must sit still. Do not think about it, that makes it worse. It annoyed his parents when he was so boisterous. Stilling the urge, he breathed in the scent of water, grass, flowers – No, stay down – flowers, water, grass... Did his parents have to be so loud? What was bothering them so much?
He started to stand up, but paused, trying to remember what tranquility was, trying to feel at peace when he longed to be in motion, when he longed to -
He suddenly decided. He didn't care anymore. Leaping to his feet, he laughed aloud, his arms shooting out as if propelled by a spring. Tranquility was forgotten in his excess of excitement! From his mouth, words burst forth with no particular meaning. Striking a pose, he spouted forth Western Poetry, as haiku was too staid for his emotions. The point was that he was expressing this immense flux of energy and happiness!
No longer able to stand still, he raced through the garden, still talking, interrupting himself as the thoughts took new paths rapidly, the inspiration rushing through the broken dam of restraint. Nothing was fully expressed except in his own mind, nothing made sense except to his rapidly moving brain!
He trampled through the carefully tended garden. Plants lay half on their sides, flowers lost the softness of untouched petals as his skin erroneously left its faint traces on them. Birds startled out of their hidden nests, and Ayame left a trail of flustered feathers fleeing his boisterous shouts.
Ayame had snapped into freedom.
TTTTTTTTTT
Ayame has almost always been one of my favorite characters. I hope I did him some justice.
Some of the things I thought foreshadowed some of the things Ayame would do later in his life. In the exuberance of living, he didn't always notice when he hurt others. Things like that!