The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix by Ava D. Dohn Page A

your first ancestor did. It will still take
some time, a day or two, for the Web particles of the mind to fully
attach themselves to the flesh and wake.”
    He rested his hand on the crystal cover, looking
down upon the girl, adding, “Our child will not be officially alive
until this ongoing process reaches completion. This interlude
between life and… and however you wish to describe it is called the
‘vision hour’. The very process of the mind’s reintegration will
cause profound dreams and visions, some being remembered into
revived consciousness. It is also a time when Mother might play in
the person’s mind, filling the head with all kinds of wonderful
visions and prophecies.”
    Drorli looked up at Symeon. “I believe that Mother
will do a lot of that with the child. Already she has played with
her while our girl slept in the Field of the Minds. I doubt Mother
will stop now - not now when she is so close to having her little darling near to completion.”
    Hanna laughed. “You speak as though our girl is but
a toy of Lowenah’s.”
    It was Drorli’s turn to laugh. “Why should you think
I meant anything different? Mother never works. She plays at
everything she does. Everything… all of her creations are her
playthings. Oh yes, the Rebellion has hurt her, almost destroyed
her heart, but it is still a game to her. Everything has always
been a game.”
    “How can that be so?” Hanna asked, confused. “How
can she view all this terrible wickedness and destruction as a
game? It makes no sense to me.”
    “That’s because…” Drorli gently poked Hanna on the
arm. “That’s because you view playing through the mind of a child.
What you do not see is that Mother never expected that inner child
in us to ever go away. She made us to always be busy at play. Work
and toil are inventions of an evil age. Mother refuses to gather
her heart up into that mindset, so she continues to play at
everything she does.”
    The girl suddenly let out a howling cry, quickly
followed by some rambling mumbles as her eyes fluttered open and
then closed. Symeon cried out in despair and then joy as tears
streamed down his face. “ She spoke! My little child spoke! She
spoke to me! ”
    Drorli attempted to explain to him that it was only
the mechanics of the body responding to electrochemical charges
surging through an awakening brain. Symeon would have none of it.
The girl had spoken to him. He knew it and would believe nothing
else. Drorli silently smiled, letting Symeon have it his way.
    For the better part of two hours, the four remained
beside the crystal sarcophagus. Symeon and Hanna learned the
attendant’s name was EurwhaNeehaa, that the woman was a child born
in the latter part of the First Age, and that she and Drorli had a
very close relationship that went back before the age of their own
star system. Eurwha was a pleasant, patient-natured person much
like Drorli, but she was more serious in disposition.
    Finally it was time to depart, Eurwha urging Symeon
on with encouragement. Gently taking his arm, she slowly led him
toward the exit chamber. “Possibly on the morrow we will be
delivering your girl to her new home. We are depending on you and
dear Hanna to have everything ready for the child’s awakening.
Remember, the less the shock to her senses, the faster she will
gather her wits to this place, which means the sooner she will be
ready for your company.”
    Symeon longingly looked back over his shoulder,
nodding dreamily. “Yes, I have much to do, and there is so much I
wish to tell her, so many things from that day long ago.”
    Eurwha took Symeon’s arm, gently moving him along.
“It will come. It will come. Much sooner than you realize, it will
come.”
    Later, when alone with the two, Drorli spoke about
Eurwha. “War is so destructive, ruins so many wonderful things.
Eurwha was such a carefree, happy person when the world was
innocent.” He sadly frowned. “The woman was badly broken when a
flaming