Evening, Sanctity

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

After spending the afternoon taking cuttings and talking to her plants, Zhaan settled into the shop to prepare several of the piles for drying. Carefully bundling some and flattening others, she worked with music playing in the background.

Her thoughts were still caught up in the past, and she felt oddly homesick as she seperated leaves and stems.

For once, Delvia had never seemed so far away.

Comments

[stykera]

Stark was, once again, wandering through Fandom and, once again, found himself at Sanctity.

"Less busy tonight?"

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

Her mood immediately lifting, Zhaan raised her head and smiled, "Stark. I am, yes." She carefully set down the cuttings she was working with and moved to greet him, hand still slightly sticky with sap as she reached out to brush his cheek.

[stykera]

"Good, good." Smiling, he reached up for her hand. "Wouldn't want to bother you. What are you doing?"

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"Making a mess," she said with a smile, before elaborating, "adding to my stock some of the herbs I've been growing."

[stykera]

"Would you like help? I think I can make a mess," he added with a hint of a grin.

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"Yes." Tugging at his hand, she led him to the workbench, and gestured with her free hand. "These cuttings here need to be carefully tied into bundles for hanging. Some will be simply dried in the sun, I believe I know the perfect place on the roof for them."

[stykera]

Stark followed her to the workbench and nodded. "Yes, I can do that. Yes." Picking up a handful of the plants, he looked from them to Zhaan. "What are these for? Just herbs?"

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"Pennyroyal. Said to cure warts and protect from fleas, as well as improve stamina." Zhaan replied. Please ignore all gardening foibles.

[stykera]

"Oh," Stark said, looking down at the now-bundled plants in his hand. "There's a lot here. Your garden is doing well? I still haven't seen it."

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"It's quite lovely." Zhaan realized with some surprise that, indeed, Stark hadn't seen it yet. A glance at the table showed her things would take care of themselves, and she set down a last leaf, "Would you like to see it?"

[stykera]

"Yes. I would. If you wouldn't mind showing me, I would like to see it," Stark answered.

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"Good." Reaching out for his hand again, she took it. Briefly, she was aware that she was appearing rather flighty. But it had been a day for introspection, and sometimes, one simply needed to shove their brain away and concentrate on living.

Knowing the shop would be fine--after all, she only locked it for things like snow demons--Zhaan pulled him through the back room and out into the enclosed garden.

Immediately, the scents of the earth swirled around them as did some very purple prose. Some of Zhaan's nervousness slid away.

[stykera]

"It is lovely," Stark said after a long moment of looking around silently. "But it would have to be. I'm sorry it took so long to see it."

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"Thank you." The quiet felt rejuvenating, as did the dusk, and Zhaan closed her eyes to bask in it. "I have been remiss in remembering to show it to you."

[stykera]

"I should have asked to see it before," Stark said with a shake of his head. "It's good to have seen it now. Thank you."

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

Tugging him further into the garden, Zhaan sank onto the wrought iron bench. "Sometimes, I come out here and sit for hours, listening to things grow."

[*cries* And then I curse at the time and go to bed.]

[stykera]

Stark sat down beside her. "It's peaceful. And lovely, as I said. But then, it's yours," as if that explained everything. And maybe it did, if you were Stark. "A good place to sit. It would be easy to be lost out here for hours. A good place to have, a good place to just...be."


((woe. tomorrow then?))

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

Just to be. The thought echoed in Zhaan's mind, and she considered how she once would have been content to simply be. But since she couldn't think of a way to articulate that, much less her dislocation at missing Moya, Pilot and the rest of the crew, she simply smiled. "It reminds me that there is always beauty in the world."

[stykera]

"Always?" Stark asked after a long pause. "Usually. I don't know about always. There is here. Now."

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"It seems rather simplistic," she admitted ruefully, "But I have seen great horror and yet found something small and beautiful within it."

[stykera]

"It's just..." Stark frowned. "I find it hard, sometimes. To find beauty. Here it's easier. Before..."

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"Before, there was Crichton and wormholes," Zhaan paused, "And death."

[stykera]

"There always is. Death. Not always so close, not always so painful, but always there. There is not always Crichton or wormholes. I don't miss the wormholes. Often Crichton but never wormholes. But there was also you, before, until there wasn't. And now," Stark said finally, "now there is you again and no wormholes."


((Eep. Sorry! I could not keep my eyes open last night.))