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  You looked into a pool

  so vast

  so wide

  so deep.

  And found it was only

  ever

  always

  an inch.

  And in its shining surface,

  you saw you.

  From my point of view.

  Collected Unpublished Lyrics

  - Sibsil Creed, Stories of Shurwinn, (2788)

  I woke up, pushing myself to a sitting position using my arms. I was weak, but I was finally hungry. Check that, I was ravenous!

  It was day twelve of my Shurwinn holiday, and my life just kept getting crazier and crazier. After what I was now thinking of as the “Vast Ryst” episode, I had only wanted juice and melons, nothing else. So, I’d given in to the impulse.

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  Then I'd stopped wanting food and barely wanted anything to drink except a little water and juice.

  And I had zero headaches. I'd started wondering if it was possible to live on fruit alone. I mean, that didn’t even seem healthy at all. So, a few days ago, I'd looked for information on all-fruit diets on stream and was surprised to learn about fasting and cleansing. And I’d found something from Earth called "hygienic eating."

  There were spas you could go to and healing centers where people just fasted the whole time, and that pricked my curiosity.

  Then the detox symptoms had started. I hadn’t really expected anything to happen to me, because I didn’t believe any of it, but boy did it prove me wrong!

  I was weak, of course, then my skin felt like it was burning from the inside out, and I itched all over. The queasiness was the worst; not enough to puke, but just sick. I started sweating, as if garbage was purging from my pores. It made me ache all over like I was bruised from head to toe, and I felt frozen for a while.

  It sucked.

  It was hard to make sense of what happened, but I slowly pieced together information that I could logically explain the symptoms from an anatomy point of view. And I persisted, listening to what my body wanted because I was not having the same headaches as before.

  Slowly, I’d gotten stronger. Now the worst seemed behind me, and I wanted food, and it was like I knew what I was doing before I got to the kitchen.

  The cooler was loaded with fruit, juice, and a few vegetables like zucchini squash, so I grabbed one and cut it into strips. Topped with tomatoes and basil from the garden, it was perfect. Yum!

  By the time I polished off the bowl, I felt stronger. Like I could flow through my Jendo forms again.

  Starting my morning exercise, I thought about the decisions I needed to make. Was I going back home to Starlend? I had only a few days left of Visitor Acceptance on Shurwinn, and I could go somewhere else if I wanted.

  Nah, that didn’t seem right.

  I was really happy in Shurwinn and was getting used to the hot sun and the dry air. I liked how quiet it was and how unobtrusive the people were. It might be nice to stay instead of trying to start over somewhere new.

  Slide. Kick. Jab. Tuck.

  Someone like Ritsken would have to help me get a job here. I could stay six months on Work Acceptance if I was employed and had a Guarantor, and that was starting to sound like a good idea.

  I didn’t want to work as a medica. That just didn’t feel right at all; too much pressure. But I could do something simple, right? Like clean houses or work in gardens.

  Kick. Lift. Spin. Shift.

  Would they hire me to work in the gardens outside? That sounded nice. I didn’t wanna be shut indoors all the time anymore.

  And suddenly I could see myself walking to work in a garden and coming home with bags of fresh produce. Practicing Jendo in the morning and polishing my Shurwinn in the evenings, watching stream shows in the local language.

  That felt like it fit. Everything clicked.

  I smiled, returning to Chachin and bowing to complete my workout.

  I wanted to stay in Shurwinn, so I went to ask Ritsken for help.