Three years ago

My grandma went away

We sat down for lunch

Yesterday

Memory gone

She couldn't stay at home

Once an elegant

Epitome

Hopeful she found peace

In a mind lost elsewhere

I was surprised by

An old stare

A grin met her eyes

As it had long ago

She asked me to sit

Not to go

We talked for a while

The years melted away

We laughed and she spoke

Clear as day

She was beautiful

A marvelous echo

Of a time ended

Long ago

But she soon grew sad

Beauty foreign and strange

And she paused for one

Last exchange

With a steady hand

She took one of mine and

Asked me to please

Understand

Before she was kind

With unwavering grace

And she was now too

One last trace

And then she was gone

I stood lost and alone

Yet I did not mourn

Lifeless bone

She had found her peace

Her soul was truly free

And she chose with love

To tell me

Muddy poured the last of the tea into Eddie's cup. She used a stained tea towel as a hot pad to avoid burning her hands, even though she wore gloves, for the kitchen was cold despite the wood-burning stove. The drafty cottage did nothing to douse their despair of losing Sissy.

They watched the snow fall outside the kitchen window. They communicated their sadness to each other without using any words. There was something about despair that deprived one of energy to speak.

Muddy carefully took the last of the biscuits from the cupboard above the window and placed them before her dear nephew and son-in-law.

"You must eat, Eddie," she urged. "I cannot lose you, too."

But Eddie didn't budge. It was as if his soul had joined his sweet Virginia in the next world. But here his body sat in his black clothing, neither speaking nor eating nor moving. He was neither alive nor dead, neither in this world nor the next. His soul was stuck in some painful shadowland. Muddy knew his pain. She knew better than to try to speak to him. Words are hollow when one has lost the will to go on.

She put another log on the fire. All she could do for her dear Eddie now was to keep him as comfortable as possible while time healed his broken heart. She cursed the cold as it was not conducive to healing one's broken heart.

When she turned her Eddie was gone from the table. She had not even heard him get up. She had no time go upstairs to check on him, assuming he had retreated to his writing desk when she heard the knock at the front door.

Upon opening it, she was handed a letter from the post informing her that her nephew had died in Baltimore and was buried two days ago. Her legs went numb beneath her. Closing the door against the cold air, she stumbled toward the wooden table where she observed Eddie sitting earlier. Leaning against it, she regained her equilibrium and breathing enough to make her way up the staircase and throw open the door to Edgar's writing desk. The room was vacant, as was every other room in the cold, dreary cottage.

A dirt road wound down around the moore and up towards the very essence of dismal dreariness. The night was far from young, and the moon hung high. She shone a pale yellow-white, a beacon to her twinkling cousins, reflecting a mood of eternal melancholy. Her song reached the trees, rustling branches, and whistling back at the birds. The road was damp and only lit by the pale light of the sky; it twisted and turned, tree roots burst from the ground, warning all who attempted the visit to turn back, to go far away and never return.

At the end of the road, above the moore sat a lone house, shrouded by unkempt bushes and ivy. The front door was of a peculiar wood, rather unpleasing, as though the wood were either the strongest in the world, or about to crumble at any given moment. The song of the moon did not reach this high, for all was dead and silent but the faint crackling of a slowly dying fire.

The air was cold, yet the wind dared not intrude on this property. In fact, hardly anything dared trespass except for one. A single woman in a white dress walked along the treacherous path, avoiding the tree roots and rocks with ease. She reached the door, robed in snowy white, and she knocked a single eery knock.

Inside the house a man awoke with a start, flask in hand, sitting in a faded arm chair facing the front door. He sprung out of his seat immediately, throwing the flask across the room and stumbling forward. He reached the door, head pressed against it, eyes squeezed shut. With a creak, the door inched open until the two were face to face. He sank to his knees letting out a strangled cry, tears tracing the curves of his nose down a rugged face.

The woman just smiled. She stood there, stoic and stately, eyes drowning in forgotten sorrows.

Slowly he began to rise, weak with shock and disbelief. The woman extended her hands as if she were a dove stretching her wings in an expression of peace, a goddess reaching down from the heavens to drag the unfortunate mortal out of his engulfing misery. The moon shone especially bright on the woman whose beauty and fair skin rivaled that of the heavens themselves. For a moment, the man made no move, it was almost as if he was rejecting her offer, until he interlocked his hand with hers, a familiar motion. With this, all seemed to relax so that the noises of the moore were hardly audible.

Hand in hand the two began to depart the dismal house, toward a grassy patch below the stars. She led him forward like a siren to the sea, face lit and eyes glistening. She danced in front of him, a delicate dancing nymph among the tree until they reached the quiet picnic destination. A silvery-blue blanket lay smooth across the grass, and the picnic basket’s contents were meticulously placed atop.

Releasing the rugged hand, the woman took her place on the blanket and motioned for the man to do the same. With less grace, he took his seat as well. Neither made a motion for food. One faced the moore and the other sat staring at her glowing figure. She turned to face him once more, laid a hand atop his and spoke in a gentle yet warning tone, “My love, Wake up”.

The man blinked once, long and hard and when his eyes opened at last, the woman was no longer in front of him. He glanced down at his hand which still felt the pressure of her grasp. To his great surprise, he found not the blanket below his hand. He saw not the glorious feast that had been in front of him merely a moment prior.

Instead, below his hand was grass covering a hard earth. He raised head slightly, and his eyes grew wide with realization and misery. In front of him sat a gray stone, a headstone.

Scrambling to his feet, the man began to run, run toward the cliff overlooking the moore. He reached the edge, heart caught in his throat and swallowed. Suddenly, the wind had overcome its fear of the property and joined the man on the cliff, whispering in his ear words of poisonous encouragement.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, a familiar, moonlit hand. Yet, in front of him appeared another hand, outstretched in an offering of eternal bliss, relief from misery. Thousands of whispers made the formerly quiet moore excruciatingly loud. Torn in two equally miserable directions, he fell. He fell to knees above the moore and shut his eyes, shut them forever.

H opened the door. standing there in front of him was...

"Yui!"

"Hey dad."

he stood to the side to let her in, she was looking at him a little strangely but H did not take it personally.

"Your mother and i were just about to make our evening tea."

Cee looked out from making the tea in the kitchen and saw Yui.

"My dear, your home, what a surprise I was not expecting you for a while now. you still have another 3 months of service, don't you?"

Yui took her seat across from her father on the small table in the Main room and looked over to both of them.

"I got out earlier to see you guys."

Cee set 3 cups of tea on the table, one was Hers her 4 tablespoon peppermint tea, H's Ghost Pepper Tea, and in front of Yui was her favorite White Birch Tea. she did not take any which caught the attention of H, who looked at her with interest, letting her and Cee talk he just watched her with interest.

"So how long are you going to be home my dear?"

"Not long. I have to go back at noon tomorrow."

H's knew his daughter, and that was a lie. yet he did not speak.

"oh well lets talk and catch up a little shall we my dear."

they spoke for some time about life, love and what's been going on at the western front.

for the first time since arriving her father asked a Question

"You found out didn't you?"

Immediately anger filled the room.

'Well of course i did the doctor even confirmed it, I'm nothing but a lab rat. I'm nothing but a little experiment to you, aren't i Father."

the word father came off with so much venom that it could kill a man.

Cee did not talk but looked at her daughter she moved to calm her but.

"Don't Touch Me. Bitch."

CRACK!

Yui looked over to see part of the table had been separated from the rest it had shattered into splinters with the force of H's hand as it ripped though the wood like it was nothing. When he spoke he was in a monotone voice with no emotion. not like he had any of those to begin with.

"Tell me who I am, how did you come to be?"

She answered in a single word.

"surrogation."

His response was hard.

"NO!"

she got up to yell at him but he stood not to his full height but quicker than she could see he started to talk till the ending was yelling.

"That monster doctor does not know what he speaks of. I AM your father and Cee is your mother there is no doubt about that we are your parents but what the doctor failed to tell you so you would jump to conclusions is one of the hardest things not even he knows and only Cee and another does."

Yui could not take it and looked dead into his eyes and spat back.

"And what is that pray tell?"

"I'm infertile."

Yui froze. infertile how if he was then how did he. wait...

"Calsterisation"

Cee was the one to speak to.

"Yes, we both wanted kids, but with your father being infertile. we needed another way to make children so him and his trust devised this its not a drug it is something more complex. it it what we had to do to make you and your brother come into this world."

Yui sat back down Calsterisation was one of the newest forms of infertile cures for people. It was a combination of several self-made drugs and natural herbs that are used to come up with a solution that when you donate a whole pint of Semen. That is what it takes to make a child. The doctors took and extracted certain compounds in the seman, removing them and placing in this compound. allowing the spouse to create a fertile bond with the male or female if that is what is happening. It's dangerous and only has a 0.03% chance to work but of all the infertile men in the world, 12 out of ever 100,000 are no longer infertile .

"You invented Calsterisation?"

H looked down as now he was sitting now.

"It took over 6 years but yes i was able to make it. So yes, you are our daughter and i am your father."

Yui realized just how much they had to go through in his life for them to get to this point. Though calsterisation is used after age five of the child, the chances of survival goes down by another point. meaning each child there after only has a 0.003% chance of surviving. she and her brother were one of those 0.003%

"I-I'm sorry dad."

"no its ok i can understand your outburst. now its gotten late why don't you go and come back later. hm?"

"ok."

Cee picks up the plates as H moves to the front door. Yui and him stepped outside.

H spoke a minute later.

"Can I hug you please?"

She hesitated, then she hugged his side like he always wanted but soon felt for the first time she felt him cry he pulled her into a deep hug crying and sobbing.

"I will miss you, Baby girl."

She gasped, "How did he know?"

"My guess is we will receive a letter and your belongings in the morning."

she nodded. he gave her one more hug before he wiped his eyes and went in with no emotion left in his eyes.

several things followed.

First the morning came and her belongings and service uniform arrived. bring Cee to her knees.

then all during the funeral H never let go of Dragon and of the casket breaking down. not wanting to let go of his daughter.

after a week

Mexico was wiped from existence. as the gulf of Mexico and north pacific became one.

H was never the same he would never let Dragon out of japan he would always spend every Friday at the cemetery remembering her. and having some white birch tea with her.

the Yui launched in the year 2078 its mission to explore space. on board was a synthetic A.I. system called Yui

pronunciation: Calsterisation (Cal-ster-i-sa-tion)

“Mom has said you were doing worse in the hospital, but I’m glad you’re doing better!” I said joyfully as I picked up my cup of tea and sipped it. “It’s great that they discharged you so quickly too!”

“It’s nice to be outside again. Those white walls nearly drove me insane.” They chuckled softly, smiling as they looked out of the window.

The two of us were sitting at a small round table having tea. A familiar red pattered china teapot between us, matching cups and saucers in our hands. We were in some kind of cafe I think, they had chosen the spot so I didn’t know what it was called. It was somewhere I faintly remembered going before.

It was nice out today, an oddly warm autumn afternoon with a light breeze gently shaking leaves from their branches.

“I’ve always loved Fall.” They spoke softly, bringing the pink tea to their lips again as we both slipped into a comfortable silence once more.

“Mhmm.” I nodded as I put my delicate red patterned china cup down. “It’s a nice day today, the suns finally decided to come out.”

“I’m glad that this is the place you chose.” They said softly, their smile taking on a sad tone.

“You chose this place, don’t tell me the doctors messed with your memory.” I ended with a huff of laughter as I looked around at the view outside of the window.

“I’m glad that this is the weather you chose.” They continued, ignoring my comment.

“I can’t chose the weather.” I laughed softly again. “But you’re right it’s beautiful out today.”

“Kid...”

Their sudden change of tone and their name for me that I am all to familiar with drew my eyes back to the figure across from me.

“It’s ok. They’re ok now.”

“What are you…?” I murmured softly, the sounds of rustling leaves being interrupted by the sound of a man softly sobbing.

“We can go now… they won’t be mad.”

I kept looking out of the window, trying to see where the soft sobs and the growing voice of a woman were coming from.

“Hey do you know where that noise is coming from…?” I tried o turn and look into the cafe we were in, but I was meet with nothing but an expanse of white.

“They’re ready for us to let go. And I think we’re ready to go now…”

“But I don’t want to go yet.” The voice of a small child came when I opened my mouth to speak.

“I know kid, but if we stay any longer we’ll hurt them.”

“I don’t want to say goodbye.” A choked sob escaped my childlike form.

Silence grew between us as they put their cup down. She stood up, the gentle scraping of the chair pulling my attention away from the window once more.

“Come on, it’s time we start on our next path.” She walked over to me and held out her hand, a soft look in her suddenly younger eyes.

Her hand was small, but mine was smaller when I put it in hers. She helped me out of my chair and the two of us made our way into the blank white, softly fading as we walked away from our red patterned china.

“I’m sad.” Was all I could whisper as we started to become less and less tangible.

“That’s ok. It’s ok to be sad.” She whispered back. “But where we’re going is a lot better that where we’ve been, ok?”

“Ok.” With a soft smile the two faded completely into the quickly darkening expanse of white.

There was a lot of silence, and then black flooded my mind as I came to.

“How was that…?” The soft voice of my therapist whispered when they noticed my stirring.

I was silent for a moment as I gathered my bearings once more. Looking around the familiar office that looked more like a living room.

“I-“ i choked out, struggling to speak through tears I hadn’t yet realized we’re streaming down my face.

“Take your time…” they whispered again as they passed a small cup of water and a few tissues to me while I slowly sat up.

More moments of silence passed as I collected myself some more. The tears still slid down my face as I sipped from the clear plastic cup and stared out the window at the white winter scape.

“I think-.” I began after what seemed like an eternity. “No, not think….”

Another stretch of soft silence spanned in the room, the light ticking of their clock the only tangible sound to me.

“I said goodbye to them. To her and to…” I shook my head as more tears welled up into my eyes.

“It’s ok, I know who you’re talking about. It’s ok, you did great.”

About 20 minutes later I was helped out of my therapist’s office and down to the car as my mother walked beside us, worriedly looking me up and down as she held my things.

Once I was settled safely into the vehicle my therapist and the kind security guard said goodbye and left us to be on our way.

It was silent between mother and I, and for the first time it was a comfortable silence.

“So… how was the meditative session?” She finally asked as we drove along the backroads.

“It was… good.” I murmured softly, quietly sipping at the tea I had brought with me.

“You’ve never come out of it so…”

“Wobbly?” I huffed a soft laugh.

“Out of it…” her gaze flicked over to me for a moment before refocusing on the road. “But yes, also very wobbly. You nearly fell down when the elevator stopped.”

“Yeah, that was an experience.”

“Did you…” my mother softly started, letting her words hang in the air between us.

“Yeah… Yeah I did.” I paused as I looked out the car window to stare at the world of white zipping by.

“What did Doctor—….”

“They said that it’s ok to grieve their loss, but that if I held onto them any longer I would just be hurting us.” I murmured, repeating the words of my therapist. “That even though they were just the representations of my past selves ,it was ok to grieve them leaving. Because at some point I loved them, even if i struggle to do so now, I did love them. That saying goodbye to a part of myself that I’ve been clinging to for so long is hard, and that I’ve worked hard to finally be able to let them go.” I finished softly, falling back into a comfortable silence with my mother.

I stared out the window as I let the scene from my session slip from my mind. Sighing softly, I raised my red pattered thermos to my lips and sipped on my favorite pink tea.

- An excerpt from a story Moki-Mori wrote a while ago.

It was a normal day as we sat at out dark round table. The water boiled for the tea as it always did. She sat there smiling but something was on her mind.

"Grandma, what is it?" I ask curiously. "Let us drink our tea" she said as a tear ran down her face. I rushed to her side with a peppermint tea, her favorite type. "Grandma what is it?" I said a little more alarmed. She just smiled and kissed the top of my head. she reached out and took her tea, and I took mine. After she finished, I took her cup to the sink. She whispered an "I love you" as she vanished into the air, but I could still feel her presence, I knew she would always be there. So I keep a cup of peppermint tea on the table next to me every time I drink mine, I know she's drinking hers. A beautiful way to remember my grandma, was the last cup of tea is always warm.

I turn the tiny ear

of the china cup

and saucer upon a

lazy heirloom dolly:

"Thank you,"

"How considerate,"

"Much obliged,"

"Shouldn'ta-"

a splash of bitters

in the invite rings

like an ambered

purification ritual;

I mop the console

and suggest, myself

another go round..?

Chin chin, porcelain,

Do, dearie really--

No, I must insist:

and turn the trolley,

just a single drop

of Life's rust is left

in this old carafe

I'm a-sharing, here in

the drawing room

where the curtains

will be closing

very soon

I know I've had

the better half

of the pairing,

rendering a

contestant

on the rise with

seamy likeness

in the mist, as I--

I fade away into

the darkening

pallor of my

own shadow

01.27.23

Tea With Your host Challenge

@HeartofaWolf