Whitebark Stream The blurred world is filled with dust

At first, there was darkness.
And then, there was light.

Light which Kiyoshi could not see, but that in days to come, would wondrously discover. As it was, a different something broke his nothing, and he slipped into this chilly world with very little struggle, save for a shiver, and a gaping gasp in search of air. Something of comfort worked him over in a quick, thorough, pattern, and his gasp became a breath, a breath he breathed - on his complete and utter own - for the very first time.

And he breathed, and he felt himself lifted and placed down somewhere warmer than before. Breathed - and his tiny nose snuffed something pleasant and sweet wafting off of the one he knew as his life-giver. Breathed - and the familiar scent that he had been pulled from rolled out from another beside him, too, a soft and familial warmth he had no name for now, but would one day say, with a smile of affection, that this one was Toshi, this one was his brother.

Light, and sight, and understanding would come in time; today was the first day, and today, Kiyoshi was simply content to snuggle, and knead the warm belly of his blessed life-giver. He was content, to suckle as he tucked himself further into this perfect cocoon of these ones who smelled of comfort, and of home. His birth was uneventful and unremarkable in many ways -- not one for the books, not one of great triumph, and not one of struggle. Not one to be written in the annals of life -- but to Kiyoshi, this was the most remarkable of days, for today, he learned to breathe.