Chapter 11
"Kay, let me finish," Charity said, her voice stronger now and a matching grin growing across her face. "Kay, we're not distant cousins. We're first cousins."
"I don't understand," Kay sputtered. "How could you possibly know that?"
Charity smiled sadly and replied, "I know the beginning to your mother's story about the blue heat that helped defeat the real fire."
Simone, realizing something heavy was about to go down, slipped out to Haeven and left the two women alone.
Kay and Charity sat down on a sofa as Charity told her story.
"The women in my family have always wielded the power of blue, as we call it. The contradiction that it embodies, a cool blue heat derived from a warm and true love, is symbolic of the true power that it holds, to contradict the opposite of love, in all its forms. You and I touching healed your ankle because pain is the opposite of the joy that is a part of love. The blue light that engulfs rooms when two of our family members touch or one of us comes into contact with our true love, is a reflection of this blue heat, that cools and soothes, even as it burns the wielder."
Simone burst into the room carrying a cup holder with three tall containers. "Milkshakes all around," she announced. She promptly took a seat across the room from the two cousins and started slurping happily away on her shake. Kay reached over to grab one for herself and began sipping on it quite a bit softer than Simone. Charity simply placed on in front of herself on the coffee table and continued her story.
"My mom, her name's Faith, used to live with her twin sister Grace in an apartment when they were undergrads at the local theological seminary. Mom stepped out one day for matches to light their gas stove. She must have left the gas turned on, because later she was told that it appeared that the heat from her sister's iron had caught the gas and the apartment went up in flames. By the time Faith got back from the store, the apartment had burned to the ground. The old woman next door who used to look out for my mom and her sister told her that Grace had died in the fire."
"But that's not true!" Kay shouted. "My mother didn't die, she was rescued; no one could find anyone who knew who she was. How could Faith have abandoned her sister?"
"Kay, I don't understand what could have happened; our mother's will have to sort this out on their own." Charity began.
"But how?" Kay understood now, what had happened, but she felt cheated. She wanted to understand how her mother could have so easily lost half her family. "How will we ever know?"
Charity smiled again, remembering that, despite the horrible circumstances that had separated the family, the potential that they could tap into now that they were reunited. "Kay, if we could heal your ankle with a simple touch, and you weren't even aware of the nature of your blue, can you imagine what the blue of two twin sisters who understand their potential could do? Grace's. I mean, Aunt Grace's amnesia can be taken care of just as easily."
Kay sat back as she let the evening's news soak in. She took a long, powerful slurp from her milkshake straw, just as Charity and Simone did the same.
Simone looked up and grinned. "Now that's what I'm talkin' about." she said, pleased with recent developments beyond belief. She had picked up on the tension between the two women the moment she'd mentioned Charity's name to Kay earlier that day. Now it seemed as though that would be put to rest. "Hey, you two," she said thoughtfully. "You know, my back has been KILLING me recently, think you could lay a lil of that blue on me?" She wiggled her eyebrows at them both.
Kay grinned back. "Simone, your shirt is blue enough to handle that on its own." She stuck her tongue out at Simone's pout. "But I suppose a little of our special blue couldn't hurt."
"Kay, let me finish," Charity said, her voice stronger now and a matching grin growing across her face. "Kay, we're not distant cousins. We're first cousins."
"I don't understand," Kay sputtered. "How could you possibly know that?"
Charity smiled sadly and replied, "I know the beginning to your mother's story about the blue heat that helped defeat the real fire."
Simone, realizing something heavy was about to go down, slipped out to Haeven and left the two women alone.
Kay and Charity sat down on a sofa as Charity told her story.
"The women in my family have always wielded the power of blue, as we call it. The contradiction that it embodies, a cool blue heat derived from a warm and true love, is symbolic of the true power that it holds, to contradict the opposite of love, in all its forms. You and I touching healed your ankle because pain is the opposite of the joy that is a part of love. The blue light that engulfs rooms when two of our family members touch or one of us comes into contact with our true love, is a reflection of this blue heat, that cools and soothes, even as it burns the wielder."
Simone burst into the room carrying a cup holder with three tall containers. "Milkshakes all around," she announced. She promptly took a seat across the room from the two cousins and started slurping happily away on her shake. Kay reached over to grab one for herself and began sipping on it quite a bit softer than Simone. Charity simply placed on in front of herself on the coffee table and continued her story.
"My mom, her name's Faith, used to live with her twin sister Grace in an apartment when they were undergrads at the local theological seminary. Mom stepped out one day for matches to light their gas stove. She must have left the gas turned on, because later she was told that it appeared that the heat from her sister's iron had caught the gas and the apartment went up in flames. By the time Faith got back from the store, the apartment had burned to the ground. The old woman next door who used to look out for my mom and her sister told her that Grace had died in the fire."
"But that's not true!" Kay shouted. "My mother didn't die, she was rescued; no one could find anyone who knew who she was. How could Faith have abandoned her sister?"
"Kay, I don't understand what could have happened; our mother's will have to sort this out on their own." Charity began.
"But how?" Kay understood now, what had happened, but she felt cheated. She wanted to understand how her mother could have so easily lost half her family. "How will we ever know?"
Charity smiled again, remembering that, despite the horrible circumstances that had separated the family, the potential that they could tap into now that they were reunited. "Kay, if we could heal your ankle with a simple touch, and you weren't even aware of the nature of your blue, can you imagine what the blue of two twin sisters who understand their potential could do? Grace's. I mean, Aunt Grace's amnesia can be taken care of just as easily."
Kay sat back as she let the evening's news soak in. She took a long, powerful slurp from her milkshake straw, just as Charity and Simone did the same.
Simone looked up and grinned. "Now that's what I'm talkin' about." she said, pleased with recent developments beyond belief. She had picked up on the tension between the two women the moment she'd mentioned Charity's name to Kay earlier that day. Now it seemed as though that would be put to rest. "Hey, you two," she said thoughtfully. "You know, my back has been KILLING me recently, think you could lay a lil of that blue on me?" She wiggled her eyebrows at them both.
Kay grinned back. "Simone, your shirt is blue enough to handle that on its own." She stuck her tongue out at Simone's pout. "But I suppose a little of our special blue couldn't hurt."
