2024-07-11 - Sand Polished

Ultimately, the thing that finally pulled Jjezreth from its morose stewing after the earthquake was the sandstorm.

That seemed the biggest new thing since it was taken from the warm, steady heat of where and brought to the place where instead it came and went.

Temperature, after all, it knew already; although the shifting temperature with the movement of light around it felt strange.
Jjezreth's physical eyes were tightly shut and the light was still filtered through the shell of Patchwork so that all that Jjezreth really saw was the faintest dimming and brightening but it wasstill able to connect the bright with warmth and the dim with cold. But that was an afterthought, a connection made while Jjezreth was busy hiding in itself rather than experiencing willfully.

The movement around it was more than before but Jjezreth had been building its awareness steadily week after week so the sudden jump was noticeable but not tremendously interesting.

The sandstorm was new.

It started as a wind that began to build, reaching a something that seemed a little like what Jjezreth had seen in Mother's dreams of flight. Was it being moved again? It didn't feel like it was, when it was moved before it felt the strange inner-ear kind of sway while now it was still. But that rushing sound meant movement.

… Didn't it?

Except not right now. Jjezreth was certain it wasn't moving and that it wasn't in one of Mother's dreams – it had some grasp now on the idea of awake and asleep even if the distinction was arbitrary. But it wasn't even just moving air that it was hearing. There was a fwip-fwip kind of snapping sound that Jjezreth didn't understand. The cracking of fabric under an onslaught of force before it was pulled taught. And it was dim. Dim but still hot? That was different. Not bad-different this time. Just different-different enough to make Jjezreth notice without wanting to cower.

The tiny ping of a grain of sand made Jjezreth squirm, trying to reorient itself against whatever that was. Because – because what was that? It wasn't scary this time. No, not at all! It took a little bit before it happened again; this time a few scattered grains breaking over the surface of Patchwork with a little noise and something that felt almost like touch.

Jjezreth wasn't playing, it still wasn't whole enough to understand the concept of play fully. But it delighted greatly in the strangeness around it and began to reach out for the first time since the quake, prodding at surrounding minds to see if they had noticed something was happening. Wasn't this fun? Why hadn't this happened before? Jjezreth thought it should happen again!

It went silent again once the sandstorm stopped. This time it wasn't because it was hiding so much as Jjezreth was sulking that it had to end.