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Greeting the Spring
The school has been quiet over the declared spring break, most of the students are in Tahiti, on Stark money.
He'd have liked to have gone with them, he really would have. He's been working himself to exhaustion most days. He's up to prepare ritual to greet the sun every day, like clockwork, and has been skipping his usual self-imposed time to sleep in order to spend a little more time with those in the medbay, or to help deal with some of the nightmares and aftermath. He's also taken up part of greeting committee, and helping with the administrative duties here and there where he could.
And then he did have his own few days away. Following the notes he'd written home for the slain students, he went to help their families some. Elf went with him for her roommate's funeral and all, and doing what they could for the mother. It was never enough.

Still, he'd begged off on Tahiti. Too much to do. But the real reason was today. After the Christians had finished their Easter weekend and the easter egg hunts and other little holiday things were passed, he'd spent all night cleaning up and making sure nothing was left from those celebrations. Sure, the Professor and others were fine with it taking a few days, but he wasn't. Today is too important.

As he sits down, just before dawn, feeling the cold of Father Sky in the pre-light day, and Mother Earth under him, all of the pain of sympathetic healing rituals melts away for a bit. All the shadows of nightmares that weren't his own filter out of his mind, swept away on the breeze. His mother fortifies him, pushing away the tired muscles and fatigue, revitalizing him. His service isn't without cost to him, but, with a smile on his face, he's reminded that sometimes there are some amazing benefits to being a shaman and servant to the Father and Mother and the spirits.

There's new voices this morning, as the sun rises. Spirits of renewal and rebirth and fertility arise off the lake and from the woods. Spirits that have been sleeping since the last days of summer, others, more resilient, arising from their slumber since Autumn, or the first snows. He greets each by name, taking the time to recognize the awakening spirit of each flower, of the trees finding new leaves, of the creatures soon to bring new life into the world with the spring and summer months to grow strong before another winter comes.

He doesn't need Tahiti, doesn't need a vacation. This is where he belongs, greeting the coming of Spring.