Title: The Law of Nature

Author: Batela

Rating: G Sk/Sc

Summary: Renewal after the War.

Note: this was inspired by a new pic on Sergeeva’s site.

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Mist arose from the water of the inlet like wisps of fairies dancing joyfully to greet the morning light. The rocky peninsulas surrounding the inlet were graceful in their ancient guardianship, their gray misty beards soft and enveloping, blanketing the small creatures inhabiting them during the evening slumber.

Although it was morning, the sun had yet to make an official appearance; the sky was still clouded over with the dull gray covering of an evening shower, quite common for the Northwest. Eagles, egrets, cranes, beavers, seals and bears all made their way to the water for a morning meal with more grace and civility than any human had ever managed.

At peace for the first time in God knew how many lifetimes, the man stood in the open doorway of his cabin, naked, at one with the nature surrounding him. Without a thought, he stepped outside and quietly walked down the dirt path to the beach. All of the locals, the four-legged, the winged, the furred and the scaled, paused in their morning constitutional at the sound of the stranger to their land. Sensing no danger, they resumed their breakfast. There was a nip in the air, causing Skinner’s nipples to harden, raise bumps on his skin and his genitals to tighten up, but he took no notice as he made his way to the water’s edge, his breath white in the morning chill.

He stood at the water’s edge, his back straight and proud as he held out his arms to the heavens and lifted his face to greet the new dawn. He remained in that position until he felt acceptance bless him and make him one with the land. He walked slowly into the water, letting his body adjust to the temperature, until the water lapped gently at his chest. He sank into the water and kicked off the sandy bottom. He held his eyes open but could only make out dark gray blurs. It wasn’t light enough to see anything. He swam lazily, coming up for air when his lungs reminded him that he was a mammal. He paused by a large, ancient tree trunk that had made the water its home a good century earlier, its decaying body giving a home to hundreds of tiny creatures. Skinner pushed up onto the side of it, holding himself up by the power of his arms and the buoyancy of the water and hung onto it as he watched an otter turning to wash off a clam it had cracked open. The furred creature was larger than he had expected, a good four to five feet long, but he felt no fear from it, from the sharp teeth and claws of the elegant animal.

A lonely cry from an eagle echoed overhead, but Skinner couldn’t see it against the gray sky. A slash sounded from across the bay as a fish was sacrificed for a meal; one dies so that another might live, –Nature’s law in action as it had been for a millennia.

He lowered himself back into the water and swam the couple hundred yards back to his own part of the beach. When he arose from the water, walking onto the land, he felt renewed, his sins forgiven, a newborn baby fresh from his Mother’s womb. He walked slowly back up the path, droplets of water dripping from his body, until he reached his cabin.

The war was over. No one had escaped without scars, without missing family members. His last shining blessing stood patiently waiting for him, and opened her arms to wrap him in her warm blanket, accepting the cool moisture from the lake transferred from his body to hers. The hot scalding dampness on her shoulder was received with an open heart as they stood in communion with the soul of the one who had sacrificed himself so that they may live.