sphere of the sacred worm

• Ovida passes through the gateway to Celestia in the temple on Little Island, but Celestia is yet lost- and so she experiences glimpses of a corpse-world of howling wind and absent sun, an empty sky and the consequence of a choice made long ago.

Peonies

by Mary Oliver

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

and they open–
pools of lace,
white and pink–
and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away

to their dark, underground cities–
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,

the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
their red stems holding

all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again--
beauty the brave, the exemplary,

blazing open.
Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?

• Liza and Ovida visit the former Labyrinth, which has begun to be called the back garden, and travel across its growing vistas under the pre-dawn light. They travel to the basin where the hawthorn that Pitohui became dwells and grows, and walked across the waters on a path of dreams and flowers to reach its trunk. Liza talks about the changes in her life and her fears to nobody in particular as the dawn encroaches. Birdsong fills the air as the leaves of the vast tree rustle in the breeze. Liza takes the moment to change further, and takes flight on iridescent wings.
• Theremin approaches Ovida and asks for her to try joining together with them briefly, as a unified being, which Ovida expresses some concern about. They talk further about their relationship and Ovida's relationship with others- in particular Queen Night- before agreeing. They fuse into a singular being, and in so doing bare themselves to each other¹.
• Cora visits the angel Levi and tries to determine whether he'd obstruct her reinvention of death; he proves recalcitrant, being part of the mechanism that apportions lives and the broader process of dying and reincarnation that souls still in theory undergo². Therevida interrupts by knocking at the door for their own visit. They realize they have parallel cause with Cora and join in, but get distracted by observing the mythic manifestations of the four of them at the table. She touches he thread on Levi's loom, and they discuss the relationship Levi has with the tapestry it weaves and how she wishes it was a part of the thread itself. They return to a level of perception where Cora can still participate and continue as before. Levi remains noncommital, but does seem at least open to checking in on whatever it is Theremin is up to.
• Liza returns home and lands on her roof as a bird, and immediately runs full-tilt into her wife on the way downstairs. Basilisk is very surprised by Liza's extreme turn to birdness, and asks if she's still her Liza. Always, she replies.

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1. a number of the details escape me in the moments i'm writing this but this picture was a referent for the general shape they took

2. the specifics and how functional this system still is is very unclear, but he seems to think it's still more or less in play despite large portions being drowned and unknowable for now

that is, I'm sure you're wondering how we got into this situation.

highlights included:

• the conclusion of the Voronov/Voronina-reunion family dinner at Liza's house, in which Liza, though still hesitant to fully open up to her parents, learns that they are their own brand of weird. Related: we learn about School's pinewood battlebots club.
• Ovida invites Theremin, Mara, and Liza to join her and Queen Night on a journey to Jade Irinka's temple at Little Island. We learn that Queen Night has a gondola-style boat, because of course she does.
• at Jade's temple, Ovida meets with the memory of Jade Irinka thanks to Theremin's aid. She is still just a memory, though, and can only offer so much in the way of insight. Still, with the memory's permission, Ovida plants some of the bluebells of He, Death (wrapped in a ribbon of night thanks to Queen Night) at the base of the statue of Jade Irinka.
• seeking some final comfort, Ovida finds catharsis by sharing with Theremin her experience of seeing the vast starlit river/procession of He, Death in the void, as he flowed towards becoming something real.
• ...and in the process of sharing experiences with one another, Theremin's jealousy over the whole Queen Night situation is revealed. whoops.

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and THIS week in nishgranting:

• as she visits the space where Celestia once was, Ovida at last sheds her binding to the late He, Death—leaving behind the wings of sunlight as a kind of memorial and as an act of letting go.
• ...and, of course, everything else.