Week 51: Mind to mind and Heart to Heart

parvati lay back on the bed in the small hotel room she was currently renting. The day had been hard on her feet and her heart but it wasn't quite over yet. She still had something she had to do. Rising she prepared herself a cup of tea and then sat back in the lotus position the hot drink steaming in her hands.

}{"Ace?"}{ she asks softly, a timid knock upon the door of his mind. She didn't press she was simply there willing to talk if he was willing to speak to her. }{"Ace? Can we talk?"}{

It took a brief moment for there to be a reply, but as always Ace was there at the other end of the line when Parvati needed him.

}{Yes, but I'm not sure I want to talk about what you want to talk about, Parvarti.}{
The sense of his thoughts was solid, but tinged slightly with regret, sorrow and bitter rage.

Parvati was calm, her emotions bound and focused through meditative means for the moment at least. }{"I... I just wanted to talk to a friend.}{ she speaks softly even this way }{"I just want to know I'm not entirely alone, and... I want to know those I care about are still okay.}{ her emotions break slightly letting through the worry and the saddness almost shrinking away from the rage she can feel from him, guilt rising up to meet it.

The reply was softned, but with the same undercurrents.
}{Oh.. I see. Sorry. I didn't think.. of course. You are never alone, Parvarti. That's why we got these, so we could always talk, no matter what or where. What.. what do you want to say?}{
He was slightly hesitant in his thaughts.

}{"I wanted to be sure you were okay... after what happened."}{ she thought softly. }{" I was also wondering if any of your old fed contacts might know what was happening on Taiwan..."}{ She sipped her tea and sighed softly.

}{"I know it hurts... but he was my friend too."}{ she says quietly.

}{I'm fine. I just don't want to talk about it. Not now. It's too soon.}{

}{I'll ask my contacts. I doubt they know anything though.}{

}{I appreciate you are trying to help. I do. I just can't think properly right now. I need some time.}{

She sips her tea, quite for a few long minutes. }{"I Understand." she says softly }{"When you are ready..."}{ She offers her support without words, even mental ones, that would only get away.

}{"How is Darya?"}{ she asks deliberately moving the topic away from the painful ones into, at least she hopes, happier ones.

On the other end of the line, Ace sat silent and still, waiting. There was not much longer to go.

}{She is.. coping. I haven’t spoken to her much. I've not been the best company in the last week. I was hoping to go on a trip with her to the mountains, but that's been put on hold.}{

}{"Sounds like it would be nice,"}{ she says softly, sipping her tea gently. }{"But then i've always liked the wilds."}{

}{"Anyway... Anything you over hear about Taiwan and the whole mess there would be appreciated."}{ she says avoiding touching anything more painful.

}{I will.}{

Ace was growing colder as the conversation progressed. He sounded increasingly distracted and the hint of rage was growing ever so slightly. His words did not betray the reasons for this.

}{How about you, Pavarti? How are you holding up?}{

}{"I'm... Tired"}{ she admits after a long moment of silence. }{"Tired of all this death, all this fighting..." }{ She drifts off slowly into silence again.

}{"Tired of losing people I care about."}{ she says after another long pause. She could feel Ace's rage and she hesitantly responds flinching from it but trying not to, trying to accept what he feels.

}{There is always fighting in the world, Parvarti. Sometimes people die and there is nothing you can do about it. Sometimes people deserve to die.}{

He could see them now, like ants swarming over a discarded morsel. Rats, scrabbling for self worth, bringing disease with them. Vermin. He looked to his partner and spoke, "10 seconds".

}{"Shiva walks with us all, that doesn't mean I can't get tired of standing in her shadow my entire life."}{ She rebukes Ace gently. }{"I'm Kshatriya. I know my Dharma... I just wish I could stand beneath Vishnu's shield more often."}{

She shakes her head and sips her tea }{"I'm sorry, I didn't check if I was interrupting anything..."}{ she says with a shake of her head.

}{You can only do your best. You can't solve all the worlds problems. Sometimes you can't even solve your own, or your friends.}{

The canopy popped open on the Gunship, disrupting the stakeholders enough for it to be clearly visible from the ground below.

}{It's okay, I had a moment spare. Now I have something I need to do.}{

The metal monster leapt from his chariot of fire into the path of the lights blazing below. And, just for a moment, the abyss stared back.