Submissions by jasonedwarddias (Jason Dias)

Children surrounded her.  None of them were hers, but she loved them all the same.  She strode past two boys who could be twins, brown and lean, with dark hair and downcast eyes.  They chiseled at a rock that would outlast them by thousands of years.  They were old enough for clothes, just sack cloth tied around their waists with tufts of hemp.  When her eyes left them, she heard them sigh, just the barest wisp of breath, a secret relief.
     It did not do to attract the attention of the Masters.
     Dirt, sand and gravel slid and crunched under her sandals.  The Master let her...