Helian, looking as shaken as she felt, regained his seat. He glanced round, his eyes wide. ‘She spoke to you?’ Kintra nodded. He looked away. There was nothing more to say. ‘Hey. What happened?’ She placed her hand on Farron’s leg. ‘I can’t explain. Not yet anyway. I have no words.’ He handed her the tea. A faint scent of mint and lemon rose from the cup. She sipped it, closing her eyes and allowing the aroma to envelop her. Farron wrapped the blanket back around her shoulders, along with a comforting arm. ‘Did you hear her?’ Helian asked quietly, turning to look at her. She nodded over her cup. ‘Hear her?’ Farron asked, his arm tightening around her. ‘She spoke to us like the dragons do.’ She tapped her head. Farron tensed. ‘Did you see her change?’ ‘Change how?’ he asked. ‘She was transposed over a dragon the same colours as her dress.’ Helian said. ‘No. I didn’t see that or hear her.’ Farron’s voice was quiet. She detected an almost imperceptible growl under his words. He was jealous of what she shared with Helian. Territorial. She leant into him, trying to reassure. Helian was staring at her. ‘She knew we were coming. How? We didn’t know we were coming!’ Kintra stared at the woman. Yes, she moved with a sort of slow grace, similar to these people, and she was still exquisitely attractive, but there was no sign of the dragon or the bright light around her. She was sipping a drink and talking to people, relaxed, laughing, normal. She was once like you, Seerchel spoke in her mind. Kintra jumped, could the dragon read her thoughts so completely? Sense the surface ones, yes. Once we are bonded our minds will, over time become more open to one another. Kintra tensed. It allows us to share knowledge, wisdom, magic, and to direct the full force of Wildfire. I will teach you how to shut off from me in your more…intimate moments. Her shoulders dropped and she breathed deep of the steam from the tea still clutched in her hands. What do you mean, she was once like me?’ She was human and bonded a dragon. Her magic is of the water. She will help train you and oversee our bonding.

Time once again to welcome some new people to the group in an official capacity! Obviously a good chunk of y'all have been active already, but still, everyone gets one. Without further ado, please welcome... @Eliud Kimathi, academic-focused nurse practitioner interested in sharpening healthcare essays and professional research projects. @Valerie Bachinsky, health educator and RN building a daily creative habit around health, risk reduction, and real-life stories. @Leala Vincent, aspiring poet and toddler mom sharing pieces about love, change, and everyday moments. @L. Roberts Dale, self-publishing author and YouTube host here to help storytellers shape and launch their books. @Ben Olivia, professional editor focused on Christian books, clarity, structure, and strong storytelling from draft to finished manuscript. @Silvia Martins, human rights researcher shaping a memoir at the intersection of justice, accountability, and environmental stories. @Vera Sephora, romance fiction specialist helping turn almost-ready love stories into polished, publish-ready books and audiobooks. @Jenna Kelly, homeschool mom of five and book lover shaping a novel from dream sketch to finished story. @Esmond Thea, paranormal romance author and creator blending supernatural themes with online business and affiliate-world experience. @Oliver Haddington, fiction-focused creator here to level up craft, confidence, and overall storytelling skills. @Kim Wilson, who's just browsing for the moment but came here courtesy of @Kirsten Ivatts. I make these posts so everyone has a guaranteed way to get introduced to people and have an easy first connection point. If someone here sounds like your kind of person, say hi on their posts or pull them into a thread.

I feel this rant belongs in the challenges section because I find myself in the strange space between being aware, wanting to let the process happen - to feel the situation, and wanting very much to preserve my own peace and reject the more than natural feelings that are coming up this week. I'm talking about the elelphant in the room or rather the stampede of angry, incredulous, fearful and devastating feelings that are driving the elephants throughout our global awareness. I'm an American living in Eastern Europe and I cannot unsee nor unaware myself of the elephants. Yet the horror is so thick with reality that dissociation is attractive and probably a necessary part of processing in order to stay with that reality and hold space for the truth, to not make little or make light of what it is, to not deny and reject what we are about to face for the coming months and years. Obviously, this becomes a huge obstacle to being creative, at least right now. Getting into the flow to create something with whimsy, passion or concentration feels forced, strained. In equal measure, I cringe to think of writing as a way to express what I'm feeling, to create something from this unprecedented time in our communal consciousness. It all just feels inherrently inadequate. I dare not speak of the stampede of elephants. It's too hard, too hardcore. But these are my personal feelings, and perhaps it's just challenging because I must prepare myself to both express and supress my feelings on the topic whenever it's broached with the 20 or so other feeling, thinking professional adults I will meet over the next week. I wonder if anyone else has similar feelings? Is anyone else dismayed and distracted to the point that writing isn't flowing, that the mind must detach, and somehow the elephants must be addressed before returning to our creations? Or perhaps you are blessed with enough distance to be able to express something poigniant, and it has great potential for your creative process? Thank you for reading and I would be grateful for your thoughts, as a different perspective would be amazing.

This is my blog post today, after a deep inner journey this morning connected to my relationship. This reflection afterwards is long so I have added it as a link. The inner journey and release of a part of me, behind a protector was not actually about this blog post, but as always, when I do this inner work, the shift allows other things to surface that obviously were all connected in some way. I hope, if you desire to read it, it will be helpful to your own journey in some way. https://kirstenivatts.com/truth-about-being-attractive/

Just a quick thing I had the seed thought for while I was driving home tonight. First poem proper I've written in a while, so I dunno how good it might be on a technical/structural level. --- In between my lives I go Upon the road, going to and fro Seeking that which brings my mind cessation I take on roles, I tick off tasks Each time exchanging different masks In pursuit of final abnegation And when I serve, I do it well For ne'er do my questions swell Save on the road to unknown destination 'Tis in no place, neither there nor yonder My voice arises, I'm forced to ponder Here in the haze 'twixt start and end, I've naught to do but take repose And feel the liminal blend of open road allow my doors of thought to close I exist only now. I forgot myself then. I will fade when this is done Till I'm on the road again