Snow flakes fell gently onto the already white landscape, the trees were barren except for the evergreens. A few birds that had stayed to brave the winter could be heard chirping through the woods. And tucked away in these woods was a cozy little cottage. The gravel road was packed with snow. There were two cars that sat parked inside the driveway.
Inside the cottage in the rustic living room burned a warm fire. Gentle soft music played in the background. Harness Light and his partner Leaves Above, the owners of the quaint little cottage, were having their two good friends over. They had all been so busy lately that it had been hard to get together.
"So how has your teaching job been going?" Leaves Above asked her friend Thousand Petals.
Thousand Petals' host was a young woman in her mid thirties. She was very pretty with a sharp pointed face (though not unkind), and curly chestnut hair. Her face lit up at the mention of her calling. She was a second grade teacher. "Oh, it's been marvelous. The children are doing so well in reading. Except for this one child, Joseph, he..."
Leaves Above listened politely to Thousand Petals as she described her work, and asked her follow up questions. She could also hear bits and pieces of Harness Light, and Second Sunrise (Thousand Petal's partner) discussing Harness Light's work as a healer. She doubted that the conversation would turn to Second Sunrise's work.
Second Sunrise, who had lived several life terms as a See Weed, had given up his calling there, a storyteller, to become a Seeker. Second Sunrise and Thousand Petals had came to Earth during the beginning of the assimilation, when the souls were literally at war with the humans. So it was easy to understand why he had chosen his calling, to protect his friends and loved ones, but it was not a profession that was easy for other souls to relate too. Though they were always happy beyond words when he came back from a mission safe.
Leaves Above shuddered when she remembered when Second Sunrise came very close to not making it home at all. When Thousand Petals had called Leaves Above to tell her what happened she had been hysterical, Leaves Above could barely understand her. Second Sunrise had been received a fatal gunshot wound while trying to capture a group of rebels. Second Sunrise had many saviors that day, his Seekers who quickly got him to the hospital, the healers themselves who had Second Sunrise up and walking in a mer six day, and then the most unexpected savior of , a human child who had called out to the Seekers to help Second Sunrise before darting away into the woods. The child most be a true gem to have so much compassion when her kind where could be called brutes at best.
"Leaves Above?" Thousand Petals called.
Embarrassed, Leaves Above realized that Thousand Petals had been calling her for some time. "I'm sorry I must have drifted off. You were saying?" she asked feeling dreadful for being so rude.
"It's alright. I was just asking you how you and Harness Light's are doing with trying to have a human child to give as a host."
"Oh," Leaves Above said. Harness Light had stopped talking. His eyes meet hers for a moment. Leaves Above's host had a strong maternal instinct, and she had increasingly found herself wanting to have a child. To allow another soul to come to this world and help the soul adjust to this world would be nothing but pure joy. And Harness Light had shared her enthusiasm but...
Leaves Above smiled sadly. "It seems that my host isn't able to reproduce," she explained quietly.
Thousand Petals leaned over and squeezed her hand.
"I'm so sorry," Second Sunrise told her, "I know how much this meant to you."
Leaves Above tried to smile, appreciating his concern. Though her smile felt more like a grimace.
"Of course there's another option," Harness Light added, "We certainly could try and find a couple who's reproduced a host but would be willing to give it up in order for us to be guardians. Sort of like the humans' old system of adoption."
"So Harness Light, and I have something to hope for," Leaves Above said trying to sound cheerful hoping to restore the happy mood. She did not want to be a downer. "Oh, would you like more coffee Second Sunrise?" she asked noticing that his mug was empty.
"You don't have to trouble yourself I can get."
"It'll be no trouble," Leaves Above insisted. Second Sunrise gave her his mug. She stood up and walked into the kitchen. She was happy to have an excuse to be alone for a moment. She could fell tears threatening to fall.
She filled Second Sunrises coffee mug, and leaned against the counter for a moment feeling the warmth from the mug on her hands and staring out the window. She didn't know why it bothered her so much that she couldn't reproduce. An instinct from her host she supposed but still it made her feel worthless.
She toke a big breath and was about to return to the living room when a movement in the woods caught her eyes. She stared as a large shaggy dog sprinted out of the woods.
The dog's coat was black, and brown with mats all over her body One ear was standing straight up while the other hung down, and she had one brown eye, and one blue. Leaves Above could tell the dog was a stray. The dog ran up to the sliding door in the kitchen. The dog barked and scratched at the door franticly. Leaves Above quickly put down the coffee and called for Harness Light and her friends to come.
She opened the door and the dog came barreling in. The dog stood in the kitchen and barked frantically, it tore back out of the house into the snow. It turned around and looked at Leaves Above, she then started barking again. By this time everyone had gathered in the kitchen. The dog ran back to Leaves Above and pawed at her feet whimpering loudly.
"The dog looks familiar... but I don't think it's the dog I'm thinking off," Second Sunrise murmured thoughtfully. The dog ran back outside and repeated the whole process.
Suddenly Leaves Above gasped. "She's wants us to follow her." she said. Leaves Above quickly put on a pair of boots and grabbed her coat of the kitchen chair. She ran after the dog. As soon as the dog saw that Leaves Above was following, she toke off running into the woods.
Leaves Above followed it. She heard the others calling after her to wait but she didn't listen. Something about the dogs manner made her feel like this was urgent.
She ran for about five minutes before the dog stopped at a pile of rags. Leaves Above slowed to a walk and approached the rags. When she was closer she realized that the pile of rags was in fact a little human girl. "Harness Light!" she screamed.
Leaves Above ran to the child. The girl was laying face down in the snow. The dog was laying next to child nudging her insistently with her nose, and whimpering. Leaves Above carefully moved the child onto her back. She placed two fingers against her wrist. There was a pulse but it seemed very faint.
Tears started to stream down Leaves Above's face as she cradled the child. She was so thin. Her face was gaunt and sunken in. When she pushed up she girls sleeve to take her pulse she saw that her arm that it was nothing but skin and bone. There was not an ounce of fat on her. Her fingers, which were pathetically covered by torn gloves, were purple and swollen from frostbite. Her breathing was slow and shallow.
At that moment Harness Light and her friends came running. Thousand Petals stopped when she saw the girl her hands over her mouth her eyes wide and horrified.
"We need to get her to the hospital," though Harness Light spoke calmly his voice was not devoid of the horrors he felt for the child. "Leaves Above, Thousand Petals run back to the house, grab some blankets, and the medical kit. Second Sunrise carry her."
Second Sunrise toke the little girl from Leaves Above and she immediately ran after Thousand Petals. When she reached the house, Thousand Petals was grabbing the Afghan draped over the couch. "Grab the car keys on the kitchen counter!" Leaves Above called as she ran into bathroom. She tore up the bathroom cupboards trying to find the medical kit. Where was it?
Finally she found it unused stuffed in the back of a cupboard. Leaves Above ran out to Second Sunrise's car. Thousand Petals was already in the backseat with the child wrapped tightly in the afghan. Second Sunrise speed out of the driveway as soon as Leaves Above closed the door. He was going much faster than the speed limit, or what was entirely safe. But this was one of the rare cases that it was necessary.
Leaves Above fumbled with the medical kit. Soon she found what she was looking for. "Thousand Petals, I need to see her hands," Leaves Above said as she struggled with the cap of the container.
Thousand Petals quickly extracted the girls emaciated arms from the cocoon. Leaves Above spread the lotion like substance on the girls frostbitten fingers. The substance stimulated blood flow, and repaired the damaged cells. Soon the girls fingers were normal again. Leaves Above gave the child hand a gentle squeeze and was about to check her feet for frostbite when the girl's grip tightened. Leaves Above was shocked at how the child's grip was strong even though she was close to death. The little eyelid's fluttered. Leaves Above could here Thousand Petals gasp.
Her hand shock with emotion as the Leaves Above stroked the girl's hair and whispered in her ear. "That's right keep fighting. You are so strong. Please hold on." Tears welled up in Leaves Above's eyes as the girl's breathing became strong, and her eye lids fluttered again as she desperately tried to open them.