-18 - Q -desire- Now

The girl grinned, missing a tooth. And Elara stood up, her stiff knees protesting, her hollow desire forgotten. She took the girl’s small, grubby hand, and they walked together away from the edge.

She sat on a flat stone and waited. For what, she didn’t know. Perhaps for the tide to rise high enough to kiss her boots. Perhaps for the answer she’d never found in books. -18 - Q -Desire-

She wanted to answer the question.

She looked at the girl—at the earnest, unwashed face, at the small chest rising and falling with the effort of the climb. And she felt, despite every intention, the old machinery of wanting grind back to life. The girl grinned, missing a tooth

The old woman on the cliff’s edge had one final desire. She sat on a flat stone and waited