Cold Fire Rising

Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

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"Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it." - Helen Keller

"Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it." - Tori Amos

"I'm touched by the idea that when we do things that are useful and helpful - collecting these shards of spirituality - that we may be helping to bring about a healing." - Leonard Nimoy

"Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn't you - all of the expectations, all of the beliefs - and becoming who you are." - Rachel Naomi Remen

"If there's no breaking then there's no healing, and if there's no healing then there's no learning." - One Tree Hill

"Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion." - Buddha

"Love one another and help others to rise to the higher levels, simply by pouring out love. Love is infectious and the greatest healing energy." - Sai Baba

"Humor is healing." - Brad Garrett

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Sometimes, he wanted to just let go. Let it all go, and break loose, go into the wind, and not shoulder any responsibilities. But it wasn't in him. He had been born to lead. Instinct. Natural. Environment shaping and nurturing. He couldn't stop.

But he could rest. Resting was easy.

He rested.

His brother was understandably very confused, poking and prodding, making snarky comments, taking shots at his skills. He just sat on the couch, comfortable, watching his favorite show. Finally, the tirade stopped and he felt his brother sit next to him with a huff.

"You need to teach me that."

Not taking his eyes from the screen, Leonardo asked, "Teach you what?"

Raphael gestured. "How to stay so calm like that. You could've stood up and challenged me."

"I told you, I'm resting." Leonardo flicked his eyes over, then back. "When I'm resting, I'm not fighting."

"You're always fighting."

Leo closed his eyes and smiled. "True. But inner peace is never made without inner war."

"Ugh. Thank you, Sun Tzu."

He opened his eyes to see Raph staring at him, arms folded, mouth in a pout. "Anyway. Our geek brothers went out to get pizza. I got bored. We should try that new game Casey got and try to beat Mikey's score."

Leo snickered. "Good luck. Mikey even beat Donnie at Tetris and that was only because Donnie kept throwing words over his head so he took it as a challenge."

"Oh, I remember that. They both refused to sleep and we had to literally feed them every few hours. That was epic."

Raph was already on hands and knees, searching the pile of video games.

The sounds of arguing hovered in the air near the lair's entrance and echoed around the turnstiles.

"Yes, you are a geek! You're a comic book nerd, you're an otaku, you memorize the most absurd facts and tidbits that relate to nothing but trivial fantasy stuff-"

"Hey, my knowing stuff about Tolkein got very useful when we were fighting off Dregg, thank you!"

"But it was too trivial!"