Life's costumes

Rabbit nibbled gratefully from the napkin wrapped packet while Jacob went in to buy a set of new windshield wrapper blades. Night comes early during the Kaloa Moon of December. There'd be no sight of her light tonight, but it was surely the beginning of sacred times, and the Watchful One was glad he and his friend sat for tea with the young.

"I could use a hand with this," Jacob had the replacement blades out of the box. "If you reach for the umbrella and hold it over us I can get these changed-out without drowning." The cell of south eastern wind was blowing the rain into the truck. A small piece of magic would be necessary to allow Rabbit to be in public. It was near dark, but two other customers were in the lot. Rabbit and Jacob started to hum. Low and steady the two created a cell of their own. Long enough to encase the simple transaction, the wizard and his assistant made sure the van would be safe to drive in the downpours.

It was December, but winter had barely begun and rain would be more than not.

Jacob the Surveyor thanked his friend for this part in the ordinary necessity that bordered their world of magic. "I was wondering about Calypso's grandchild," Rabbit had the umbrella tucked behind the seat. With some quick shakes and a little muttering the rain catcher was dry enough. "She was born with just the one ear, but the slits. Are they as useful to her if she were still water worthy?"

Jacob started up the van, tried the blades. Assured they were properly fit he checked his mirrors and backed out of the parking lot concentrated on maneuvering. Parking lots are notoriously dangerous places. Once on the road Jacob answered, "Larkin was born with ear slits that would have closed completely by the time she began to walk. It was Calypso who knew how to raise the child and teach her to keep the openings from closing up. The costumes and caps the girl and her grandmother have worn all these years ... they are part of the whole process of upbringing."

Rabbit the Watchful was never invasive with curiosity. His concern for humans stemmed from his own physicality. Hares were gifted with exceptionally grand hearing, but, it was their sense of smell that saved their lives in times of greatest danger. "This girl has a very well developed nose. Those slits she keeps concealed with headgear, do they present an especially ... hmm, what's the word I'm after Jacob?"

"Is travel a thing that will draw more attention to an already brightly lit being as herself?" Jacob offered that as an answer. The rain was a torrent by this time. The two questions sparkled the inside of the cab. Silence rather than more talk accompanied them. It wasn't far to the water's edge and there was still more sandwich. Rabbit nibbled. Yes, Larkin was a brightly lit young woman preparing for the Long Journey. The first of many.

Jacob parked. The smell of the wetlands calmed them both. The Surveyor said, "There's more than the heart of lion in those bottles of amber glass. With her directions, Larkin's guardian has helped concoct a series of remedies. If the girl drinks them all with company, the remedy will position her with good balance. She and I need to share the final bottle. Stories that need telling will give us both what calls. 2016 is a year of endings."

Without speaking Rabbit finished the cheese sandwich. And something new begins.