sm_monthly Mar 25 theme

[purplekitte]

Title: Sandalwood and Olives
Author: purplekitte
Theme: Character-a-day--Kakyuu
Genre: Angst
Version: Manga
Rating: PG

Being an incense burner was an odd experience. Few animal-based lifeforms, Kinmokuan or Terran, could say “Oh yes, I’ve been an inanimate object.”

The Kinmoku didn’t believe in inanimate objects in the Terran sense, though. There were those who spoke with words--sentient life, that which grew--animal and vegetable, silent life--minerals as it were. A human could not have shared souls with an incense burner because it would not have occurred to them enamel and metal had a soul.

An incense burner couldn’t think as humans knew it. It felt the heat of the forger even after it had been taken from it. It felt the heat of the center of the Earth, a prayer, a memory, whenever someone lit an offering on it.

That was all well and good. Kakyuu didn’t want to think. Not about Kinmoku or Galaxia, her true love or Seiya. There was smell, in the soul if not the nose. She wished there was not hearing.

Comments

[sea_thoughts]

I never thought about what it would be like for Kakyuu to live as an incense burner. This is such a thoughtful exploration, and the last line... so heartwrenching.

[purplekitte.livejournal.com]

Sweet. Just what I was going for.