Hello, friends! I've been working hard to write consistently every day and the manuscript is coming along nicely! I'm still on track to have the first draft of Touch of the Eternal ready by the end of this year or sooner. I'm so pleased with how it's turning out and I know you will be, too.
In the meantime, please enjoy this brief excerpt I wrote this morning. It's a touching scene where Samien, now a man grown, reflects on a particular moment from his youth with his mother. If you read the prequel story, Divided Together, this will have some additional meaning for you.
I hope you enjoy this little moment between Samien and his mother, Shavanti.
- A memory of Samien Jin
After many minutes passed, Shavanti finally said to him, "Samien, what do you see here in the forest when you look around?"
Samien had looked all around him and finally answered, "lots of pretty gold trees mamma! And I see grass and leaves and that toad over there!"
Shavanti's gaze followed his little pointing finger. Samien recalled how his mother had to squint to see the little blue toad at the base of a massive tree about fifty paces away. She had turned back to look at him, but Samien recalled the sadness and tears in her eyes at odds with her kind smile.
"Your eyes are very sharp, Samien." She had said.
"They are? I hope I don't cut you with them, mamma!" Samien had said. Shavanti had laughed, but the tears kept coming.
"Oh no, you could never hurt me with your beautiful eyes, my dear son. You have your father's eyes." She had said. Samien could still recall his confusion. It had been one of the few clues Samien had ever heard from Shavanti about his father.
"Well, I hope he doesn't want them back!" he had said, and Shavanti laughed again, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"You silly boy. You are clever like he was, too!"