And as the rain fell down her cheeks he moved away and said, "Why? Why is it so cold today? The sun is shining!"

But the grey cloak he wore left her seeing only hazy shadows of feathered beings come and gone and come and gone again and the rain was blurring her vision so that even his voice wavered in her mind.

Was the sun shining? Why hadn't she felt it on her bare skin? Perhaps she had made a mistake when she'd shed her thin, black shift.

"The problem is," she said, "I didn't realize we were going outside."

"I would have bundled up."

He removed his cloak to wrap it around her, but she preferred shivering to taking on the illusory wings of someone else's shadow.

Where could she go now? Would he come too? Was it raining? Or were her eyes just leaking, as they often did? Did he notice her goosebumps? Would he have the patience for her fire building? It was, to her, the only obvious next step.

But first, she would have to wait out the rain.

Posted on 3/18/06; 1:14:56 PM