Avellana's Story Part 4

Simply stepping into the sacred space of the cathedral of the Interection of Hope, the Hopefulls, *her* faith,soothed her . . . and finally dried up the tears that had lodged uncomfortably at the bottom of her throat since the violent events of the morning.

Like at the labyrinth, she stood a moment to settle her thoughts before reciting the opening prayer and moving in meditation.

All through the years she had only been herself.

Some people, and some Vines, could not accept who she was, her innate psi powers, Flair. They could not reconcile her with what they believed their religion to be.

She was as she had been created, and what accident and luck had formed her into. But she loved her Fams and her Families — the Hazels and the Vines — and her dearest Muin.

She would proceed as a whole person, and thank the Guardian Spirit for all the protection the entity had blessed her with lately, and think on how to be a guardian of the Vine Family herself.

So when Avellana heard Muin’s first steps, she murmured the opening prayer, then walked through the silence empty of voices but pulsing with emotions and layered with serene reverence.

And her pace matched her HeartMate’s.

They walked toward the center — him from the arm of the innocent child, her as Guardian Spirit, at right angles to each other. Not seeing the beloved, but knowing they moved toward each other as they always had.