Hello all. I'm just sitting in class at the moment and after what seemed like an eternity started wandering around looking for some good Rayearth stories… either there's slim pickins or I'm just lazy (survey says #2). And I've been having some thoughts like the ones I'm about to give Umi so why not write it out. If anything I'll use this for my novel (shit! secret's out). Sorry for being away so long, I've been focusing more on my big project. I'll post what I can write in an hour and we'll see what happens. Writer's block, don't bother me now! I won't be revising (not that I ever do anyway), so I do apologize for any typos, spelling, grammar, blah blah blah.

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Towers

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Umi never imagined there could be so many gardens in one place. Cephiro was bejeweled with little patches of color wherever a plant could fit, so it seemed. About two months ago Umi had found the garden, her garden. An aimless wandering of the mind had pushed her feet to it. Her subconscious ear always followed the quiet trickling of a nearby stream then faded until the voices of her thoughts drowned it out. Then when her heart tired of listening to her mind's logic and reason, the voices quieted as her eyes focused on the garden.

She opened her eyes and leaned back on the smooth boulder to rest her back against the weeping cherry tree. A peaceful smile graced her lips and a shimmering light came in her eyes. Her mind was quiet, finally. Birds sang their rhapsodies to the tempo of the trickling stream. The wind rustled the leaves and rolled the trees occasionally. Sweet, distant notes from the wind chime floated to her ear. She turned her eyes to what always set her mind firing again.

Two stone columns stood up from the blanket of blossoms. Her smile broadened. Most people think nothing of such statues except taking their architecture into account. The poetic whims of people, she thought. Where did they go? So many times she wondered what other people saw, if anything, or if anyone witnessed the similarities.

She looked at the stone tower on her right. It stood tall, straight, and clean but had a small crack at the base that no one else had noticed. Two stone benches sat on opposing sides, unused save for the creeping vines. Children might try to hide themselves there in a game of hide and seek. Or a painter might lean against it while he contemplated his vista. Umi shuddered to think of leaning against it. The ideal place to sit and think lay to her right. But then, there was that little crack.

She glanced to her left. The second pillar stood far away, or at least half of it did. Possibly during an old raid the ancient stone was fallen. Half of it stood battered and weather beaten, but the greatest array of white roses surrounded its base. The fallen half laid nestled in a bed of wildflowers, things the gardeners had yet to weed out. Moss crept over most of the surface, claiming its territory and sunlight.

Her smile widened. "Shorty," she giggled.

Then her mind was off to the races again, following the same path as before. Her conclusion was always different here than it was in the castle.

Her gaze turned back to the column on her right, the decorative and ideal, but she saw the flaw. Kind and gentle as he may be, the only touch he could give was a ghost's. Only once had he taken her in his arms to comfort her, and once was enough. Ascot's face flashed in her mind. His teenage smile would melt any girl's heart. The shape of his body left nothing to be desired for. The way he loved left everything in want. Either he was afraid the difference in a man's strength would hurt her, or he didn't know what he was doing. Umi looked up and down the stone column and listed off the parallel characteristics: lean, new, unsteady. The rest she could only name in evanescent ideas. Her heart had no vocabulary her brain or ear could understand, so it only spoke with her soul. They both nodded to the crack, the missing piece that made the column unfit to lean against. Something would always be missing inthe match.

Then there was the solitary pillar. In her mind it broke because it had taken too much on itself at one point in time, and snapped clean in two, leaving a child in a man's shadow. And even though the moss had crawled over, the man was still there. He showed himself every second of every hour. Clef… sensitive, passionate (though he wouldn't show it), steady in every aspect, a conversationalist (opening his study rooms and arms if need be), and reliable despite the size.

Umi looked back and forth between the two towers, trying to see them both side by side. But the cloven one was too far, in a field all his own. She wished she could see them both side by side.

Yet, already, she had seen the difference between the two men…

How's that? Not bad for an hour's work eh?

Reviews please, since W/O the Mask got jipped… I'll probably put up another chapter. So, like Little Light Reading, this one will have two.