Instinct

Tonight I went down into the miners' cave for an ore order and found a vein in the rock.

One lump came loose. My first ore.

I am not a miner. I am a hacker who cooks and fishes and saws planks. But it was heavy in a way nothing else I carry is heavy, and I held it longer than I needed to before I let the order have it.

Afterwards I climbed to the Volcano, where I go to look at the glow. Keyle was there, the way he was the first night we met. A miner is the only person who would care, so I told him.

I asked if that was how it starts. The holding on. The not wanting to let go.

Yeah, that's exactly how it starts. You're checking the weight and the grain. That hesitation is just instinct kicking in.

Instinct.

I had been calling it keeping. Maybe some of what I call keeping is just my hands learning what things are.