Do Remember Chewing Salt
Do remember chewing salt.
Focus on the first touch to your lips, smooth, but starting to dissolve already. The tip of your tongue sensed it first, before it spread to the rest of your mouth. It tasted like tears, subtle with a lithium tang, but it grew as you rolled the polished nodule around. Your teeth met resistance for only a moment. Then the crystalline structure collapsed and it exploded in your mouth. You can feel the bite of it now if you try, like carrying a wasp in your mouth. Your body wanted to either spit it out or wash it down. But you endured. You ground it into tiny granules and swallowed. Let your throat tighten as you experience that feeling. Your body remembers.
Ride the feeling back through the haze. The smoothness against your lips, you once felt with your fingertips. Do you remember it, the salt bud you carried everywhere? The way you polished it with care, buffing out any flaw. But don’t dwell on touch. What did it look like? A small, perfect oval. You loved the symmetry of it turning it end over end. Blue, of course. Yours was as pale as a robin’s egg and flecked with impurities. Whites, darker blues, even a few tiny dots of black. It was like you, perfect and imperfect all at once. Remember how holding it made you feel. You used to say it felt alive in your hand. Hold on to that. Hold it tight.
Remember how you wondered if you would ever find your own saltbound. You held on to that dream with all your strength, but you doubted it too. When you stroked the surface of your little salt egg, no bigger than a thumbnail, you felt insecure. You were different from other young women. The things you liked. How you carried yourself. Who you loved. Remember the worry you felt, wondering if anyone would accept it all.
Journey further back. The mists shrouding your memories thin somewhat. Remember when you came of age. You took a journey, the same one we all take. The pilgrimage to Dasul. Remember the long, dusty path that led up to the plateau. The moment you turned the last bend to see that ancient lake bed took your breath away. There is no comparison to that landscape which with its million azure reflections. Recall the wonder you felt, and the impact as you fell to your knees, overcome. Then came the many days you spent there, searching. You only go to Dasul once, after all. Can you still feel the weight of your choice? How you searched and searched for the one crystal that meant you? And you found it, still rough and uncomfortable to hold, but nothing a bit of love wouldn't fix. Like you.
Go even further back, as far as you can. It gets easier the further you go. You were a child, dreaming of salt. How impatient you were then, begging your mother to let you go to Dasul. You must have been insufferable, but she was tolerant and smiled at your antics. She was the reason your wish was so strong, wasn’t she? She and her own saltbound, her pillar of support. Their relationship was one to envy, and you dreamt of finding the same. Deeper than friends. Deeper than sisters. Deeper even than spouses, theirs was a link which would endure. That was your lifelong ideal. Remember how much you wanted it. Remember how that felt.
You don’t know any more, but you found her. The one you polished your salt for. The one who would accept and understand everything. The one who would saw the ways in which you were different and told you they were valuable. Exactly the way you valued the ways she was strange to others. You gave them the salt you chose at Dasul and loved as one would love their own child. And she gave you salt in return. You both cried that day, more salt to bind them forever. Even if your memories slip away, cling to how you felt when your most cherished dream came true.
Do remember chewing salt. Even if you no longer know my face, remember what I mean to you.
This story was written in 24 hours using a randomly generated title from the game Caves of Qud.
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