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Dadi Part 1 <<if $wearing_spectacles>> The creak in her [[bones]], sang out the weary timbre of [[time]]. <<else>> The creak in her [[bones]], [[sang]] out [[the]] weary timbre of [[time]]. <<endif>>

What is bone, but congealed dust? <<back "To the human">>

To sing...what is [[more human|time]]? More bird? More tree, more wind, more alive?

What inspires you in THE article, in its function? Why do you see the forgotten in-between to hold more intrigue than the layers of person, of physic? What are you trying to prove, who are you trying to defy? Do you think this choice defines you from [[the others|First][$wearing_spectacles = 1]], grant you uniqueness, individuality unto yourself?

[[Damp|extras][$code_word to "1"]] and [[chill|extras][$code_word to"2"]] and [[sorrow|extras][$code_word to "3"]] had etched themselves onto her every available surface, carved her like a [[story|anything else][$else_word to "2"]] to be felt by closed eyes, with hands [[alone]]. [[Too tangible|Kids]] to be a part of her, yet too tangible for her to be [[anything else|anything else][$else_word to "1"]].

<<if $code_word is "1">> and chill and sorrow <<back "to the human">> <<elseif $code_word is "2">> and sorrow and damp <<back "to the human">> <<elseif $code_word is "3">> yes. <<back "to the human">> <<endif>>

"We forget the power in words," Dadi began, "because we have so many and use them so often. We have endless air; it sometimes seems like endless time. We breathe life to thoughts outside of ourselves before we determine that these words are worth bringing forth, worth embedding in someone else's mind. It was not always this way. Each word used to have a price. Each word had a depth of meaning, wells and springs that when said in a certain way, on a certain day, by a certain person, would alter the world as we knew it. One day, there was a young thief who would steal words from people’s hearts, enchant them with the things they left unsaid. They dared to break the sanctity of silence with what has always held power, a-- <<nobr>> <<if $free_will == "yes" and hasVisited("desperately")>> <<set $haircolor = [ "[[kiss.|Sun]]", "[[whisper.|Sun]]", "[[song.|Sun]]" ]>> <<set $haircolor_choice = 0>> <<button "←">> <<set $haircolor_choice-->> <<if $haircolor_choice < 0>> <<set $haircolor_choice = $haircolor.length - 1>> <</if>> <<replace "#pc_haircolor">>$haircolor[$haircolor_choice]<</replace>> <</button>> <span id = "pc_haircolor">$haircolor[$haircolor_choice]</span> <<button "→">> <<set $haircolor_choice++>> <<if $haircolor_choice >= $haircolor.length>> <<set $haircolor_choice = 0>> <</if>> <<replace "#pc_haircolor">>$haircolor[$haircolor_choice]<</replace>> <</button>> <<endif>> <<if $free_will == "no" or not hasVisited("decision")>> <<set $haircolor to either("[[kiss.|Sun]]", "[[whisper.|Sun]]", "[[song.|Sun]]")>> <<set $thief_agent to either("moon", "lover", "sun", "sun", "lover", "moon", "lover", "sun", "moon")>> <<print $haircolor>> <<endif>> <<if $free_will == "yes" and not hasVisited("desperately")>> <<set $haircolor = [ "[[kiss.|Sun]]", "[[whisper.|Sun]]", "[[song.|Sun]]" ]>> <<set $haircolor_choice = 0>> <<button "←">> <<set $haircolor_choice-->> <<if $haircolor_choice < 0>> <<set $haircolor_choice = $haircolor.length - 1>> <</if>> <<replace "#pc_haircolor">>$haircolor[$haircolor_choice]<</replace>> <</button>> <span id = "pc_haircolor">$haircolor[$haircolor_choice]</span> <<button "→">> <<set $haircolor_choice++>> <<if $haircolor_choice >= $haircolor.length>> <<set $haircolor_choice = 0>> <</if>> <<replace "#pc_haircolor">>$haircolor[$haircolor_choice]<</replace>> <</button>> <<set $thief_agent to either("moon", "lover", "sun", "sun", "lover", "moon", "lover", "sun", "moon")>> <<endif>> <</nobr>> Not because of the intimacy it now represents, but because of the exchange of breath. Of wind.

aren't we always, at the end? and often in the middle? only that beginn[[ing...|Kids]]

Dadi drew her shawl around herself and blew on her cup of [[chai]], willing the children in the background to silence. Her whimsy had led to child after child, [[pregnant]] with noise and chaos.

Reverence incarnate. <<back "To the human">>

What does it mean to hold something inside yourself as it journeys from [[you|decision]] into [[foreign|wind]]?

[[Whims|rocked][$free_will to "no"]] or [[free will|rocked][$free_will to "yes"]]? How to discern difference through the loud?

<<nobr>> <<if $free_will is "no">> Safya bounded up, the fresh scent of grass and snow clinging to her [[desperately|regardless]], transience to transience. <<else>> Safya bounded up, the fresh scent of grass and snow clinging to her [[desperately]], transience to transience. <<endif>> <</nobr>>

Dadi rocked on her chair gently. Instead of willing she almost wished, no, instead prayed, that the children would [[lessen|less][$wording_1 to "lessen"]], [[reduce|less][$wording_1 to "reduce"]]--quiet. If her [[mind]] could not ease from [[within|groans]], perhaps the world could diminish from [[without|wind]].

<<if $wording_1 is "lessen">> A lesson in [[lessen|off]]? <<elseif $wording_1 is "reduce">> Refuse in [[reduce|off]]? <<endif>>

Her head felt [[heavy|groans]], heady even, with all the things she remembered and all the things she did not.

<<if hasVisited("off")>> "Dadi, dadi, a story pleaaase." [[Safya|desperation]] groaned. Dadi stilled her rocking and smiled softly. <<else>> "Dadi, dadi, a story pleaaase." [[Safya|desperation]] [[groaned|off]]. Dadi stilled her rocking and smiled softly. <<endif>>

Safya bounded up, the fresh scent of grass and snow clinging to her ''desperately'', transience to transience. [[You|regardless][$thief_agent = "moon"]] believe this to be true. (You as you are.) [[You|regardless][$thief_agent = "lover"]] believe this to be false. (You as you are.) [[You|regardless][$thief_agent = "sun"]] believe this to be true. (No, but you wish.) [[You|regardless][$thief_agent = "lover"]] believe this to be false. (No, but you wish.)

<<if hasVisited("adamant") and not hasVisited("still")>> "The boys won't let me [[play]] and Arfaan keeps pulling my hair and calling me names and I told them I don't want to play anyway because I have someting else to do and my something has to be better than their something so this story has to be better than snowball fights, pleeeease?" Safya said all in one breath. "Daughter, slowly." The old language played at being a wet rag thickly tied on her tongue, unyielding in its drip onto this new one. She tried not to feel shame at the difference in their speech, tried not to think how the words were a matter of wind, how soon, she too night be a matter of wind. [[That wind blows away|play]]. "STORY." Safya was adamant. Dadi nodded. She understood that word well enough. "You must be sit. [[Be still.|still]] I will tell it in the old language." She felt the difference between her gnarled palm and Safya's silky hair. Felt her tongue relax as it no longer blundered in tracing the whorls of her brain, but became her, extended. <<elseif hasVisited("still") and not hasVisited("adamant")>> "The boys won't let me [[play]] and Arfaan keeps pulling my hair and calling me names and I told them I don't want to play anyway because I have someting else to do and my something has to be better than their something so this story has to be better than snowball fights, pleeeease?" Safya said all in one breath. "Daughter, slowly." The old language played at being a wet rag thickly tied on her tongue, unyielding in its drip onto this new one. She tried not to feel shame at the difference in their speech, tried not to think how the words were a matter of wind, how soon, she too night be a matter of wind. [[That wind blows away|play]]. "STORY." Safya was [[adamant]]. Dadi nodded. She understood that word well enough. "You must sit. Be still. I will tell it in the old language." She felt the difference between her gnarled palm and Safya's silky hair. Felt her tongue relax as it no longer blundered in tracing the whorls of her brain, but became her, extended. <<elseif hasVisited("adamant","still")>> "The boys won't let me [[play]] and Arfaan keeps pulling my hair and calling me names and I told them I don't want to play anyway because I have someting else to do and my something has to be better than their something so this story has to be better than snowball fights, pleeeease?" Safya said all in one breath. "Daughter, slowly." The old language played at being a wet rag thickly tied on her tongue, unyielding in its drip onto this new one. She tried not to feel shame at the difference in their speech, tried not to think how the words were a matter of wind, how soon, she too night be a matter of wind. [[That wind blows away|play]]. "[[STORY|wind]]." Safya was adamant. Dadi nodded. She understood that word well enough. "You must sit. Be still. I will tell it in the old language." She felt the difference between her gnarled palm and Safya's silky hair. Felt her tongue relax as it no longer blundered in tracing the whorls of her brain, but became her, extended. <<else>> "The boys won't let me [[play]] and Arfaan keeps pulling my hair and calling me names and I told them I don't want to play anyway because I have someting else to do and my something has to be better than their something so this story has to be better than snowball fights, pleeeease?" Safya said all in one breath. "Daughter, slowly." The old language played at being a wet rag thickly tied on her tongue, unyielding in its drip onto this new one. She tried not to feel shame at the difference in their speech, tried not to think how the words were a matter of wind, how soon, she too night be a matter of wind. [[That wind blows away|play]]. "STORY." Safya was [[adamant]]. Dadi nodded. She understood that word well enough. "You must sit. [[Be still.|still]]I will tell it in the old language." She felt the difference between her gnarled palm and Safya's silky hair. Felt her tongue relax as it no longer blundered in tracing the whorls of her brain, but became her, extended. <</if>>

what we call play. <<back "To the human">>

"STORY." Safya was adamant, chanting the words as she did a [[little dance]].

"STORY." Safya was adamant, chanting the words as she did a little dance, sprays of wet snow and little puddle of mud [[marking]] her steps.

"STORY." Safya was [[adamant|regardless]], chanting the words as she did a little dance, sprays of wet snow and little puddles of mud marking her steps and ruining her socks.

<<if ($haircolor == "[[kiss.|Sun]]" or $haircolor[$haircolor_choice] == "[[kiss.|Sun]]") and $thief_agent == "sun">> The Thief kissed the [[Sun|suntext]]. <<elseif ($haircolor == "[[kiss.|Sun]]" or $haircolor[$haircolor_choice] == "[[kiss.|Sun]]") and $thief_agent == "moon">> The Thief kissed the [[Moon]]. <<elseif ($haircolor == "[[kiss.|Sun]]" or $haircolor[$haircolor_choice] == "[[kiss.|Sun]]") and $thief_agent == "lover">> The Thief kissed her [[Lover]]. <<elseif ($haircolor == "[[whisper.|Sun]]" or $haircolor[$haircolor_choice] == "[[whisper.|Sun]]") and $thief_agent == "sun">> The Thief whispered to the [[Sun|suntext]]. <<elseif ($haircolor == "[[whisper.|Sun]]" or $haircolor[$haircolor_choice] == "[[whisper.|Sun]]") and $thief_agent == "moon">> The Thief whispered to the [[Moon]]. <<elseif ($haircolor == "[[whisper.|Sun]]" or $haircolor[$haircolor_choice] == "[[whisper.|Sun]]") and $thief_agent == "lover">> The Thief whispered to her [[Lover]]. <<elseif ($haircolor == "[[song.|Sun]]" or $haircolor[$haircolor_choice] == "[[song.|Sun]]") and $thief_agent == "sun">> The Thief sang to the [[Sun|suntext]]. <<elseif ($haircolor == "[[song.|Sun]]" or $haircolor[$haircolor_choice] == "[[song.|Sun]]") and $thief_agent == "moon">> The Thief sang to the [[Moon]]. <<elseif ($haircolor == "[[song.|Sun]]" or $haircolor[$haircolor_choice] == "[[song.|Sun]]") and $thief_agent == "lover">> The Thief sang to her [[Lover]]. <<endif>>

Double-click this passage to edit it.

Ah, blessed [[stillness|regardless]].

<<if $else_word is "1">> [[Anything else?|wind]] <<elseif $else_word is "2">> What are [[any of us|wind]] but stories within stories? <<endif>>

the child threw off (only her scarf) and shoved off (only her boots) [[off with her|groans]] (...heels.)

The Moon wished to be more than Rock, wished for Their halves to be distinct. They felt like twin souls in one body too few. The Moon, unlike the Sun, yearned for the memory of water, of a flow in that which felt unchanging and solid. Thus, the Thief hurled Moon to Earth. The Thief had learned from the Sun who dabbled in doubt. So the Thief crafted the journey to be so harrowing that the Moon would never wish anew for that which They had left. The Thief ensured that the Moon had phases. That these phases [[tied to|reparation]] water and not just water, but systems of knowing and being for more transient beings. The Thief hoped to please the Moon with Time passing in ebbs and flows.

The loneliness the Sun carried was an immensity denser than Their core. No feature distinguished the Sun from the greater Stars, or lesser, for that [[matter]]. Unto itself, They sat. Squat. Languishing. The Sun desperately wished for community. The Thief shaped the Galaxy as we know it in the Sun's image. Stealing planets from distant Stars to surround ours, drawing out the Sun's essence to be sunlight for half or our existence, moonlight for [[the rest|reparation]]. The only days the Thief could not cajole were New Moon days--in which the Sun in Their insecurity shied away. Wondering if They wanted the laws of nature Themselves to form Their people. If a law-bound necessity for existence creates a belonging with a provider of those necessities.

The Thief wished They had not. For the words the Thief stole from her Lover’s heart were not made for the Thief alone. Instead, the Thief’s Lover held love to be expansive, shared, in value and weight. Not just for the Thief, but for entities upon entities in the known universe. The Lover harbored love even for that which was uncertain and that which was unknown. The Thief felt piercing jealousy--after bearing witness to the Sun and to the Moon--the Thief knew that the universe was finite. That any love that was not for the Thief would be lost forever from the Thief, and it was not the Thief's to lose. The Thief enchanted her Lover to see only the Thief. Made her Lover see that love and anima are finite. See that any questioning of this Nature was an act of non-love itself. What is doubt but the opposite of certainty, what is certainty but love? The Thief's Lover believed her--as The Thief wished--wholeheartedly. As do the Lover’s [[descendants|reparation]] to this day.

[[form of?|suntext]]

<<if previous() == "suntext">> The loneliness the Sun carried was an immensity denser than Their core. No feature distinguished the Sun from the greater Stars, or lesser, for that [[matter]]. Unto itself, They sat. Squat. Languishing. The Sun desperately wished for community. The Thief shaped the Galaxy as we know it in the Sun's image. Stealing planets from distant Stars to surround ours, drawing out the Sun's essence to be sunlight for half or our existence, moonlight for the rest. The only days the Thief could not cajole were New Moon days--in which the Sun in Their insecurity shied away. Wondering if They wanted the laws of nature Themselves to form Their people. If a law-bound necessity for existence creates a belonging with a provider of those necessities. Reparations have to be made for that which is taken. Water holds memory and many of our Planets hold ice, oceans, rivulets. They remembered where They had come from and what They had lost. Just because we do not know to hear Them does not mean They are silent. <<elseif previous() == "Moon">> The Moon wished to be more than Rock, wished for Their halves to be distinct. They felt like twin souls in one body too few. The Moon, unlike the Sun, yearned for the memory of water, of a flow in that which felt unchanging and solid. Thus the Thief hurled Moon to Earth. The Thief had learned from the Sun who dabbled in doubt. Thus the Thief crafted the journey to be so harrowing that the Moon would never wish anew for that which They had left. The Thief ensured that the Moon had phases. That these phases tied to water and not just water, but systems of knowing and being for more transient beings, hoping to please the Moon with Time passing in ebbs and flows. But with the shifting of Time, the beings and entities the Moon affected shifted too. Reparations have to be made for that which is given. Water holds memory, and most of Anima is made of water. Even if not consciously, the water remembered where They had come from and what They had lost. Just because we do not know to sense them does not meant They are silent. <<elseif previous() == "Lover">> The Thief wished They had not. For the words the Thief stole from her Lover’s heart were not made for the Thief alone. Instead, the Thief’s Lover held love to be expansive, shared, in value and weight. Not just for the Thief, but for entities upon entities in the known universe. The Lover harbored love even for that which was uncertain and that which was unknown. The Thief felt piercing jealousy--after bearing witness to the Sun and to the Moon--the Thief knew that the universe was finite. That any love that was not for the Thief would be lost forever from the Thief, and it was not the Thief's to lose. The Thief enchanted her Lover to see only the Thief. Made her Lover see that love and anima are finite. See that any questioning of this Nature was an act of non-love itself. What is doubt but the opposite of certainty, what is certainty but love? The Thief's Lover believed her--as The Thief wished--wholeheartedly. As do the Lover’s descendants to this day. Reparations have to be made for that which was stolen from the sanctity of silence only to be silenced on the terms of another. Water holds memory, and the tears the Thief’s lover--the lover still only known in relation, in possession, to the Thief--cried, hold memory. Just because we did not ask them to fall does not mean They are silent. <<endif>> <<nobr>> <<if $free_will == "yes">> Ask Dadi for another [[story|groans]]? Or [[make memories|end]] instead of reliving them? <<else>> Ask Dadi for another [[story|wind]]? Or [[make memories|end]] instead of reliving them? <<endif>> <</nobr>>

The door slammed open as eight children came running in, shouting and stomping, the chill of the outdoors indoors again. “Safya come on stop being such a baby, we’re building forts now!” someone in the crowd shouted. Safya looked at Dadi half-apologetically, her other half moving on, not leaving any thought of her grandmother. “Dadi I understood most of the words, and it seemed good, but—“ “Go on,” Dadi said gently, settling back into her chair. “Another time then.”