A special gift...

It lay sparkling on her cheek, still, and yet so fluid. It wasn't like the other beads that so often rolled off her head, hard with thought and conviction. It was different, seemingly weaker and more powerful all at the same time, filled with emotion that, were it to spill, would flood the entire universe. All this weakness, all this power lay in the tiny sparkling transparent pearl drop resting on her cheek, exposed and vulnerable, clear enough for anyone to see through it... while it's small size hid the true intensity imprisoned within it.

She decided to let it roll down the side of her face and she spread open her palm to capture it's fall, at the end of which her transparent gleaming bead would disappear and a moist glitter on her palm would be all that remained of it, all those emotions dissolving into oblivion. That's what usually happened with these beads anyway, and so she expected nothing different. She closed her eyes and felt it roll down to the edge of her face and as it fell she slowly opened her eyes to follow it's flight, and for a moment, it seemed that there were two such pearls falling into her palm at the same time.....

Then something strange happened that had never happened before... instead of vanishing the pearl seemed to get brighter, it even seemed to grow! A ray of moonlight lit up her gem and in excitement, as well as for some fear, she looked up.... and there he was... the answer to the riddle... his moist eyes staring back at hers as he covered her palm with his. He had finally given her what she had sought for a long time.... he had given her one of his own moist pearls. He had decided to share his own, and now they both shared a single glowing pearl, laying softly between their palms.

The moonlight began a quiet dance with the water lilies, and the pond shimmered to add it's own music. The breeze joined in with a hum, and the leaves twirled and pranced. It woke up the wind chime who giggled a gleeful tinkle when it realized what was going on. Felicity had found the treasure she was searching for. She had found her happiness.

He moved a strand of hair from her face and out fell some of the brightest clearest beads that had ever fallen from her head. Somehow the best came only when he was around, or at least when the thought of him was around. He caught some in his hand while some sprinkled on the ground around their feet.

"Please keep them as my gift to you," she whispered, lost in the euphoria of the moment, forgetting all that had happened before.

No sooner had the words left her mouth that he turned and ran away, the glistening beads dropping through his fingers as he let them go, a few getting crushed under his feet as he rushed off to his hiding place. The trees tried to stop him, the moonlight chased after him and the breeze called out to him, but he out-ran them all. Her gaze followed his trail until it could keep up no more, and he disappeared into the darkness.

She stared into the empty space where she last saw him. Somehow everyone seemed to like her beads except him, even though she saved the best ones for him. Perhaps that was what had kept her from sharing her gems with anyone initially. She looked down at the gleaming beads that lay around her feet and she decided to crush a few herself. It amazed her how her beads could ordinarily survive flying into branches and falling on rocks but around him they became so fragile. She felt another moist bead on her cheek and she let it fall to the ground and vanish. This time it didn't even leave any glitter.

Her sight fell on her open palm, where her glowing pearl... their glowing pearl... lay still. She folded her fingers in to encase it, undecided if she was happy or sad. Perhaps it was enough for him to have given her what he had, she supposed. It was more than what she had ever expected of him. Maybe, in time he would grow to value her gifts to him. It was a dream, surely, but... she thought, as she peaked at the glowing gem through her fingers... if this could happen, couldn't anything?

She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, content that at least now she had a part of him with her. A dandelion flew by and kissed her forehead before floating off again. The moonlight embraced her, while the breeze began to hum a tune to lull her to sleep. Felicity hadn't found what she had been searching for, but for now what lay in her palm was enough to leave a smile on her lips.