How do you always find me when I’m up to no good?

Timeline/World: Edge of Forever – Gifted Ones
Current Date: March 24, 2024

Character: Briar Queshire
Race: Halfling – Angel / Human
Age: 280, physically about 24
Current residence: Hawaii
 

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There are a lot of birds sometimes in, but mostly out and around the house. There are a lot of areas that are open to the outside with the main areas having heavy windows on a sliding panel setup which means we can open the house further up to nature when the weather permits, and it permits very often. Still, the window panels are often closed for night-time so that we don’t have to wake up with unwanted visitors in the house, especially so in the bedrooms.

I’m told the view is beautiful and I do believe it. I’ve heard the waves, the birds, the wind and all that accompanies the warmth of the sun on my face and the picture I am painted of the view outside is wonderful. I think Amadeo picked the perfect home for us when it was time to move from Sulby. I was reluctant at first, and there are days when I still feel as though I am useless, but the almost desperate need to help others has lessened over the years. I am still more than happy to help those who seek me out but there is no ache to the thought that my gifts are not as needed as they used to be.

Quite a few of my days are now spent either near horses—which is a delight in and of itself, as they are such big, gentle giants—or listening to the birds, the waves, and all other sounds nature has to offer. There are walks to be had, discoveries still to be made and tender moments to be had with Judas.

Over the past two weeks, we’ve had a new visitor to the house that I believe seems to think itself right at home with us. A bird of small size, by the sound of its wings that the others have seemed unable to locate within the walls of our home. They hear it as clearly as I do, and anytime I enter a room where it seems to be, its beautiful song changes somewhat and I like to imagine that it is asking me how it is that I always find it, especially when it is up to no good.

The thought makes me smile somewhat.

I always find it easily, but possibly because it just is easier for me as I work with sound, considering I have no sight. The only downside is that whenever I do find it in the room where I am, the others are never anywhere near and calling out for them would defeat the purpose of gently gathering our winged visitor to bring it back outside. While I can roam the house without any issues, gathering something new in my hands that might not wish to be handled is something I will leave to the others.

Were it a pest, I would possibly do what I can about it, but currently, other than being a chatty bird most of the time, it has caused no issues and I know how few of Hawaiʻi’s native birds remain. I will cause this bird no harm and at one point, I know that I will locate it with someone else near me and we can take action, as necessary. Until then, it can continue to serenade us as it wishes.

Though it does leave me to wonder if there is a reason why it made its way into the house, other than perhaps by accident. From its song, though I could be wrong, I am fairly certain that the nearby garden and the sheer number of plants, and potential bugs, we have all around the home are plenty enough to keep it fed for a while, so I’m not too worried about it. Its song never sounds distressed to me, and it makes me believe that it might just be partially lost, possibly seeking a way out, but is in no hurry to get to that.

When I first heard it in our bedroom, I thought one of the window panels had been left partially opened overnight and I could hear the morning songs of the birds outside, but when I realized that it was the only song I could hear, I figured out that it wasn’t quite that. I still don’t fully know when it came inside or how it did; we do open wide most of the panels, but we’ve never had issues with birds coming into the main rooms of the house before.

On that same note, a single bird getting inside and clearly getting turned around by the layout of the room is not going to change the fact that I will too open those glass panels every single day to get all the fresh air inside. Even when it rains, the panels are open, possibly not fully opened, depending on the direction of the rain, but they are open.

Final Word Count: 819

You have some strong spells mastered, but you refuse to use any of them. Why?

 
Timeline/World: Edge of Forever – Gifted Ones
Characters: Briar Queshire
Race: Halfling – Angel / Human
Age: 278, physically about 24
Current residence: Hawaii
Final Word Count: 745 words
 

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Not all of those who came to me while on the other island were people out to abuse me willingly offered help. Most of them came with little items they wished to offer in exchange and more often than not, I took to these trinkets with grace. Most of them, of course, landed on a shelf somewhere and I barely even recall whether or not they made it with us on the trip out.

There was so much we left behind.

Isle of Man wasn’t my first stop. I have been to Spain, France, Italy, Austria and Germany before coming to settle in Sulby. It was in Germany that I had my one strangest visitor. I could sense little from him, he hid himself from me—why yes, I’m quite aware that I’m blind and that people can hide from me with ease, but this is beside the point, I can sense the presence of others around me, and he was the one presence I couldn’t sense.

When he came up to me, he startled me. He spoke softly, as though expecting me to startle since I hadn’t, so to speak, heard him coming up to me. He told me that he could feel that I had strong spells mastered, he wondered why I refused to use any of them. It made me pause. For one thing, I have no spells to my name, not in the way that I could tell he was implying. That he also claimed that I refused to use any of them was baffling. I didn’t know this man. His voice held no familiarity and I remember every single voice that has ever spoken to me or near me. It only takes me a moment to dig through the memories of my life to locate the necessary one and he was in none of them.

Thankfully, Amadeo hadn’t been very far from me on that particular day. It hadn’t been very long since he’d moved me from Austria and into Germany and he tended to stay with me for a week or two until I had settled into my new area before he left me to my own devices again. It wasn’t so much that I truly needed his presence, but it felt good that he was willing to stay with me at least for a little while since he was the one moving me from one area to the next when those who came to me became too demanding.

Now, it wasn’t that I needed this man to leave right this moment, but I had no answer for him, and I was so certain that he was mistaking me for someone else. I can hardly lie, I was relieved when I heard Amadeo’s voice coming up from the back of me. As he came up to my side, he asked me why I looked so troubled, and I relayed the information to him. It made him pause a moment and he told me that he hadn’t seen anyone near me when he’d come back, and he hadn’t sensed any other presence.

I suppose that it made both of us pause a little longer. I hadn’t sensed the man and Amadeo hadn’t seen anyone or sensed a presence and yet, I’m still so certain that I heard his voice and his question clear as day. I could hear the rustling of his clothes—a robe of sorts, I was so sure—and the in and out of his breath as he stood there, not far from me.

Even now, I still cannot truly wrap my mind around whatever might have happened there. One of the things I did sense from him was a clear lack of malice. He wasn’t there to hurt me. Whoever or whatever he was, he was there out of curiosity, and he only came to me and kept himself from my brother. There just are things like these that have no explanation. It is not because I am tied to the world of beyond that I have the answers to everything. I honestly don’t think my mind could handle having the answers to everything.

It already is something to work with, that I remember details about every moment there is to be had in my life, I don’t know that extra knowledge would honestly work out for me at all. I am content with my lot in life, and I would not ask for anything else.

I thought I’d change my mind, but I’m going through with this.

 
Timeline/World: Edge of Forever – Gifted Ones
Characters: Briar Queshire
Race: Halfling – Angel / Human
Age: 276, physically about 24
Final Word Count: 676 words
 

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Helping others is what I do, it is part of my make, it is what I am and what I’ve always done. Of course, some have always pushed for more, more and more without ever giving anything in return but… until Judas entered my life, I didn’t mind. It wasn’t that I was naive in letting others abuse the system that was set up; it is closer along the lines that I have little sense of self and I know that this is not a healthy thing.

Again, before Judas came into my life, it didn’t matter. I was content helping others on the little island we all lived on and while I did know that some kept on asking for more and more, I had no wish to stop them, it wasn’t in my plans because it didn’t matter.

All that has changed, of course. With the move away from the little island, from the mob that was growing—whether through Judas’s presence or Amadeo’s own, I’m uncertain though it likely is a little bit of both—we’ve settled elsewhere, away from the bigger crowds. I don’t know that many know where we live now. At least, of the mortal kind. Of those with longer lifespans, either angels, demons or anything in between, a few more are aware, but only because Amadeo has allowed them to be aware.

I refuse to lie, I hated it at first. I was so used to helping everyone, healing small wounds to bigger issues that landing in a house so big that I was constantly getting lost was something I felt was planned to throw me off. I hated it all, though I kept it to myself because, well, it just is how I am. I hated it internally, though, little by little, I did warm up to this place. The house became a home, I learned the layout, I found flowers to tend—the only other thing I loved as much as healing others—there is a pool to spend time in and the air is always warm.

Last year, I had a visitor. She came, she left, unseen by all who have sight and unheard by all but me. She left me with a short message that I had to relay to my brother and it was likely one of the hardest things I ever had to do. The passing of a friend—more his than mine but that is a story for another time—is usually never easy to deal with but this was a friend he had been close to, someone he had called brother, though they were not related. The only person my brother has ever called ‘brother’, besides me, but we are blood.

He didn’t take to the news very well and only Isidor’s presence at his side kept him from doing anything foolish. It took a lot of arguing to try and get him to see that making the quick trip over there to witness what was left was a bad idea and it was arguing that was moot. For a little while, I thought I had been able to change his mind, but in the end, he went through with his trip.

The only thing I was able to convince him of, was to take Isidor with him, the boy would keep him anchored and that is likely the only thing that allowed him to keep his mind when he went.

It was a short trip, they were gone all of three days but Amadeo was subdued when he came home. Eventually, he perked back up, though it took some time and it pains me, even to this day, to remember the anguish in his voice as I told him the news. The fact that the death was not a natural one likely did not help but the past cannot be altered; we cannot do anything but live as we are and try to keep our heads above the water. Those who pass must be mourned and remembered as we loved them.

I wanted you to know.

 
Timeline/World: Alternate Earth – Almost Timeless
Characters: Briar Queshire
Race: Halfling – Angel / Human
Age: 275, physically about 24
Final Word Count: 615 words
 

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Memories are everything to everyone but, to me, they are an archive. I remember everything. Everything. From the day I was born, to the day I might die. Everything is within my reach; I only need to think about it for a few moments and it will come to me.

The only downside? All of these memories are sound, touch and smells only. As I was born without my sight, there are no images to accompany everything but perhaps that is for the best. I have a hard time trying to imagine what it must be like to wander through archival box after archival box of memory videos instead of memory audio. If I were to think of this in terms of computer technology nowadays, my memories would not be as heavy, would they?

At times, I find myself musing about the oddest of things.

I suppose I should blame this on the fact that an old, old friend came by a few days back. A friend I had not heard of for years at this point, probably decades or maybe even closer to a hundred years. It had been that long and while I had a hard time believing it at first, digging through the memories did prove the point. What else could I do but accept it? Accept it I did.

Her visit was short and brief. I don’t know for sure how she slipped by the others without their knowledge and I didn’t ask. She was always able to sneak about, I never even heard her come up and no one can come up to me as silently as she does.

Again, I feel the need to mention that her visit was very short, she settled next to me, murmured a few words to my ear, being clear to mention that she simply wanted me to know this and then she was gone again, as though she had never existed.

Were it not for my infallible memory, I would be telling myself that I imagined it but I know I did not. I was wide awake when she spoke to me so I can not even discount her ugly words as a dream because dreams have a way of turning ugly and quickly so. I still am trying to work out how I am meant to tell Amadeo about this information. It pertains to the two of us after all when a friend we had in common has ceased to be.

My mouth feels dry at the thought of using the words ‘cease’ but it is the only word that can be when one’s life energy has been sapped away and their body has turned to little more than dust particles. My fingers find a small cylinder on a short silver chain—or so I’m told—that hangs at my throat and I shake my head with a soft sigh. I will tell my brother soon. The friend in question was more my brother’s than mine but we’d met him during different parts of our lives, Amadeo had regaled me with stories from before my time, memories that never failed to make either one of us smile but that time is clearly no more. It is more than a little heartbreaking to imagine.

I have no desire to be the one to pass on that information but I must. I know that she would not go anywhere near my brother, even if it was an absolute necessity. She loathes what he is to a point that is near madness but I can’t change her mind, she is too deeply rooted in her ways. I will tell my brother, he deserves to know.

You aren’t so chill anymore.

Timeline/World: Alternate Earth – Almost Timeless
Characters: Briar Queshire
Race: Halfling – Angel / Human
Age: 274, physically about 24
Final Word Count: 579 words

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The expression was confusing. I had heard it before but I had never had to ask the meaning since it had not had anything to do with me but now that I had heard it before, it had come back to the surface of my mind and trying to make sense of it was not leading me much of anywhere. I might have had an eidetic memory—despite being blind, it is not just about seeing—and I recalled every small detail pertaining to everything but this expression had never found itself with an answer and it did baffle me to a strange point.

I thought about asking my brother about it, he had more contact with the outside world and its newest generation than I did but I wondered if it really was all that important. My mind still was trying to puzzle and piece things together. The air had not been chilly, it rarely was, so was it about someone who perhaps had been a little chilly and now was more than warm enough? No, that made little sense, the sentence had used ‘chill’ and not ‘chilly’ and I had been certain it had been meant that way.

I let it fall to the back of my mind like everything else but I knew it would come back to the surface every now and again, begging to be understood. This was the one trouble with my mind. Unclear things surfaced often, seeking answers and I knew I would give it the answer it wanted but at the point I was at, it was moot.

When I did come back home from my wandering with Judas—never on my own would any of these souls let me wander and I do appreciate it, this home and its surroundings are much bigger than the almost little shack I used to live in and I knew my way around that shack perfectly. There still were some nooks in this house I had not discovered and the way to the nearest public area was much further and for my safety and Jude’s sanity it was decided that I would best wander with companionship, I accepted that.

I did wonder for a moment, however, why not ask my companion about the meaning of those words? I am most uncertain as to why I did not bother asking while we were finally making our way back, I suppose that, in a way, it was not all that important to know and by the time the idea of asking had surfaced, we’d wandered off and away and I knew that his mind did not always latch onto the same things mine did and confusing him while he was in the driver’s seat of our vehicle was not very high on my list of things to experiment with.

The whole thing had wandered off to the back of my mind when we made it back home and I let it be. We gathered our treasure—more precious seedlings for me to tend to with love among other things—and made our way back inside so I could see to these little plants and take care of them in the best way I knew how.

I have been making these natural recipes for so long that all of it comes easy now but it still keeps me occupied most of the time and I can help others without using up all of my personal healer’s energy.

Need

Timeline/World: Alternate Earth
Characters: Briar Queshire
Race: Mixed breed – Angel / Human
Age: 273, physically 24
Final Word Count: 540 words

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They were far and few now, the one who came to him for healing. They were an unknown in their remote little spot, though not too far off from others. Briar wasn’t sure how he had felt about it, at first. So used to helping others, giving without asking for anything in return because it felt right. Now that he is not swamped with people constantly barging into his personal space, he can tell the difference however, his energy is more vibrant, he can feel it almost oozing out of his pores. He almost feels as though he was merely surviving before, just getting by on minimum energy and now, well now it’s different.

Still, he misses helping others, not that he would go out there to seek those who might need him but there is a small part of him that aches. It is a need that has been with him since he first came to be and a need that would never really go away.

There is plenty going on through his days however to keep him from thinking about it too much, most of the time it is a passing thought more than anything else, a fleeting moment of something before it is gone. His memory keeps him from moving on entirely but he can block it well enough.

Instead, when those thoughts surface, he turns to their garden, to the fruits and vegetables growing and the fact that he has enough for himself and others, has enough to dry or can or work with some and package it up for those who would need it more than any of them. He knows that not one of them in their home wants for anything, they have all they need to live well and comfortably but there are others out there who are not so lucky and helping them, even in this small way, eases the guilt that surfaces in him now and again about having left his old home, though he knows it was for the best.

Breathing a low sigh, Briar gathered his hair over his shoulder a moment before shifting his weight, moving by sense and smell to the low bush that is just five paces to his left, and resettles down to his knee to carefully gather the gooseberries, mindful of the thorns he cannot see. A low chuckle escapes him as he thinks back to the middle name he was given as several, ripe and sun-warmed berries are set into the bowl sitting to his right.

He appreciates working on every and all fruit, vegetable and herb that grows in the garden but he does have a fondness for most of the ones with thorns. Raspberries, gooseberries and pomegranates, mainly. Picking those and avoiding the prickling of the thorns is always an interesting game and most of the time he comes out the winner, a basket full of delicious sweetness and few scratches to his pale hands.

Now and again however, the thorns do their jobs just perfectly well and he leaves a few red drops of himself to the plants. It is a world where one must give if one wishes to take and that is how he prefers to keep it.