Cutting down trees that had lived through hundreds or sometimes thousands of springs. Polluting the waters of her streams, lakes and oceans with their... castoffs, trash and deadly chemicals. She, who had given them all that they had needed, had been cast aside in favour of gods. Male gods. Mere mortals, whose lives and works lasted but a brief season only to be swallowed in death. Yet she was forgotten. Her works discounted. Her never-ending gifts of spring taken for granted. The earth would. We talked some more and I told her to go to the corner, make sure that her blouse was held up over her bottom and think about our talk. She did so. After a couple of minutes she let go of one hand for some reason and the right side of her blouse dropped.“Khrystiana. I asked that you keep your blouse up. If you allow it to drop again, you will have to remove it so make certain that it does not get in the way. Do you understand?”Khrys had grabbed the blouse and lifted it up with a quiet,. ‘Let me tell you a secret: I have the hots for Joe from the bar.’ She felt Joe’s harsh inhale at her words, and smiled with growing, uncharacteristic confidence. ‘Oh, he’s so handsome, and charming, and the way he moves when he dances…’ Leanne sighed softly, exaggerating the gesture for good measure, letting the warm puff of air caress Joe’s rapidly reddening neck. ‘I wouldn’t dream of kissing Mr. McConnel, my boss. That would be so inappropriate. But I would love to pick up where I left off. White ones.”Me? I walked along the wall, looking for ancient markings or hidden recesses – something to turn the cavern into something more than it was.“There’s a passage over this way,” Luke called out, having wandered to the far wall. “Oh, interesting. Looks like it was cut into the stone. Not at all natural.”His comment both excited and disappointed me. On one hand, it promised adventure. On the other hand, I hadn’t been the one to discover it. Still, it meant that it wasn’t a dead end. The.