NOVEL NEXT 56: My Only One
Knowing without understanding.
Understanding without knowing.
File name: Untold Stories
Passcode: 8675309
RYST
"Thirteen million, nine-hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine-hundred ninety-eight more to go, Ahtah," I said aloud as I pulled the light blue duvet up over my pillows. "So, give me some more clues, would you? I could use your help. In the meantime, I'm making a present for you today, love."
I made my way to the kitchen, and the wooden floorboards were morning cool on my bare feet. The skylight above me let in the early morning sunshine. If I went up to the rooftop, I'd see the domed skylight surrounded by the blooming, flowing greenery of the garden above.
My casita was so full of light. It was everything I could have wanted, but my bed was still empty. Today, though, I had a project. Nearly four years of journaling my journey. Of breathing the breath of life and letting it fill me. I had researched for months, looking for a way to do something truly special with my journaling. I was making a gift for only one set of eyes to see. His.
I loaded a new printer with thick parchment from Carina Galaxy. My researcher friend Sam had helped me order everything and taught me what to do. This was a traditional form of paper binding of her home world and was used for special gifts like weddings, newborns or death memorials.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
The parchment I'd picked out was a thick, creamy-colored paper, and the two exterior solid pieces were a thin, lightweight wood wrapped in pale, shiny silk. It was cream, with a pale pink silk ribbon that covered the left edge. Through the pink ribbon, holes were carved, allowing the bottom and the top pieces to be bound together once the book pages were inside. It was a work of art, not a book cover.
As the printer printed, I sorted my ribbons. I hadn't been able to decide on a color to use for the binding, but I couldn't put it off any longer. I had purple, pink, green, cream, black, and dark grey ribbons, each about a millimeter wide. You were supposed to use one ribbon, but there were three colors jumping out at me.
So, I decided to ad lib and make it my own. After all, only two sets of eyes would see it— mine and his. Something in my mind tugged at me. Not now— I pushed away that big tangle, the one that kept pressing down on me. The one that gave me dreams. The one I couldn't see. That big, big thing that had been dogging me for years. It hadn't gone away when we'd built Centre Oasis. It only seemed to be growing. No. Not now. I focused on my project.
I picked up three ribbons: grey, purple, green. I twisted them together into a small rope. There. The last piece of parchment finished printing. It wasn't many pages— just enough for a thin book. When the pages were sandwiched between the two halves of the cover, I thread the ribbon through the holes in the edge, and secured it on the back.
I set the printer to printing three additional copies of the book, but they were different from the one I held in my hands.
I opened the blank cover to the title page inside:
Within and Without:
A Tindin Journey With Erotica
By Ryst Nova
The other copies had no by line. This would be the only copy that listed the author's name— a gift for my only one.
Something pressed down on me from outside of me. I inhaled long, and slow, and deep. Something pressed down on me from within. Something pressed down on me from without. Something had just quaked. Something was coming.
I stood up and paced. Rarrrgh! It was happening again. It was happening, and I couldn't stop it. No more pushing it away. The storm was upon me, and it was happening now. I had to decide. What's the decision, Ryst?
Dammit! Damn the stars in the sky and fuck every cloudy day. I do not want to do this. But I had printed three copies, hadn't I? I pinched my lips together, and bit them with my teeth, inhaling deeply through my nose.
One thought. All it took was one thought to start to calm that raging storm. One copy. One of the copies. I had to give it to Peydran. I picked it up, and the decision was made.