“Deep summer, or high winter, hardly seems the expected time to start something new.”
Walker gently swept aside stones before him, with his low boots, before sitting in front of the wood fire which burned, controlled, on the stone-set ground.
“The habit of people, I guess,” Grower laughed easily, bottom already on the firm ground, as he tossed in another piece of wood he had specially prepared, to feed the steady flames.
“The need to mark a new beginning, even in the coldest or hottest seasons.”
He had grown the tree which provided this wood which burnt cleanly, while Smith, who was for this while not around, had treated this solid fuel to give even better heat.
“What perplexes me,” Sage joined in, eyes old but body not too young, “is how we are willing to step into this beginning, more out of intuition, than from what we know.”
“Your way is to know a lot.” Walker affirmed Sage.
“Still, in seeking to understand the world around us, I suppose you also need to flow with your hunches and feelings, like Artist?”
That guy had gone with Smith to tie up loose ends before their crossing over, all five of them, and would be back shortly.
“Yes, true,” Sage replied thoughtfully, as usual, “it’s just that I find myself basing just as much upon how I truly feel, as upon all that I had previously learned.”
He gave one of his unusual slight smiles, at the other two, “So I continue to learn much from the four of you, about trusting my honest feelings.”
Grower returned with his amused smirk, “That’s how we stick with one another all along, and unto this Return.”
That’s what they were here for, at Landing.
These five men of River Town had learnt that they were really Unreturned, and once they finally arrived at Island, they would complete their transformation into the renowned Versatiles.
Walker took one of Grower’s last pieces of really splendid firewood, and kept the campfire up just a while longer.
“And have your true feelings let you down so far, dear Sage?”
“By their very sincerity, of course not.
And, I must admit, they’re certainly more consistently reliable than guessing from incomplete understanding.”
“So, as new Versatiles, where do we get to keep our honest feelings then?” Grower now ventured, wondering how the few elite, goodly ones he had ever met could still remain ever so decent, with all those powers and skills they possessed.
“We won’t need to suppress, rather I think we’re welcome to live by them,” Sage, his doubts clarified and his quiet confidence again evident, was sure, “In fact, I think we’re Returning simply because of our basic natures.”
And the fire within their circle burnt well, and the warmth was good, as the remaining two could now be heard softly approaching to rejoin them.
And the pitch night sky had begun brightening with the approaching dawn.
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