I replied to her instantly, “Your secrets are always safe with me, upon my honor.”
“We know of magik. It was the same for us, when we started to experience the magik, when it awoke in us. There is a lot of information, but I will skip to the relevant parts…,” she trailed off in thought.
When she found the words, she began to lecture in her Romanian accent, “You have an infinity with the wind. A strong infinity, as it feels like you have yet to blossom, or to come into your full power. If you come into your full power, you will have full access to your magik.
“Your magik is inside of you. The more you use, the less you have, until it is recharged. A good nap with a meal will help to replenish your magik.
“You released all of the power, which you have in your body, into one little point. I assume you were thinking to move the arrow just a bit. When your mind reached out to touch the arrow, it was not a gentle touch, but a powerful punch to the arrow.
“If you blossom, I will try to teach you what I know to help you, but my infinity is different. I am not sure I will be of much help. For now, let us get you back into the saddle, so we can make our way to the lake. You will be wanting to have a nice sleep very soon, as it is first time you drained yourself of your magiks.” Vadoma finished her lecture with a small smile to me.
I tried to stand, but my feet were very wobbly under my body. “Um, I do not think I am getting up. Can you retrieve the arrow at least?”
Her head was nodding wisely. “I think I would like to camp here for the night. Having a lake front camp is so overrated. And the arrow,…you will have to say you lost one in the trees, because the arrow is in a million pieces, about five yards that way.” Vadoma pointed to where the mouflon had stood.
I nodded my head as I let my head fall back into Vadoma’s lap. Vadoma’s voice held concern. “Can you at least keep your eyes open long enough for me to get the horses unsaddled and settled?”
“My eye is open.” I said it playfully, as I gazed at her with my right eye. “The other one seems to not be there. Sorry.”
The look of guilt on her face at the playful banter I had tried to start, which ruined the jovial mood I was trying to inject into the conversation. I felt guilty for making her feel what she was feeling. She did not look like she was very happy with the thoughts, which were running through her head, as the thoughts played out over her face with the emotions they brought to her.
That was the last thing I remembered from the day I had first used my magik, with being sprawled on my ass for the attempt. I had slept through the remaining day and the following night.
That was also the first day Vadoma shared the secrets of the Romani with me, which would not be the last day either. My life is full of secrets now.
Entry 9
4 Months Before
West of Groenplaats
I awoke on the ground with my head in Vadoma’s lap. She had propped herself against the saddles and supplies, which she had stacked up. We were not far from the small camp fire, which she had made to keep the cold of the early spring night from invading our camp to make us cold. I imagined little snow flakes holding spears marching into our camp, before demanding our surrender to the Lord of Coldness.
I chuckled at my thought as my mind took an inventory of our situation. Some guard I was for being hit low by my own stupidity. I was still very tired. I lifted my head to take in my surroundings. Vadoma had taken my weapons belt off of me and stretched it out in front of me within reach of my hands. A few paces from the camp fire, the quivers were stood up with the bows resting against them, which made using them, if there was need, a speedy process.
Behind us, I could hear the horses as they went about doing horse things, while they were tethered to the ground to prevent them from running off by a few metal spikes, which were driven through a ring of metal.
Vadoma stirred awake while she looked down at me. “Morrow, sleepy dead person.”
I quipped, “Can you be normal for once and just say good morrow, wench?”
Vadoma scrunched up her forehead in thought. After a few moments, she quipped back, “No. My weirdness for you does not allow me to be normal. You can either take me as I am or not.”
The memory of the pain on her face, from last night, came to my mind, which changed my line of thinking, as I gave voice to the thought, “Hey, are you okay?”
“Besides the cramp in my neck from sleeping this way? Da. Why?” Her response was instant.
My mind examined the reaction she had from the previous night, with the words around my statement about my eye. Slowly, like I was afraid to scare a wild animal off, I voiced my concern. “Well, before I like went all dead and tried to eat your brain, what was wrong? When I made the joke about my eye?”
Vadoma looked into my face for a moment, as some major choice was being played out in her head. I gave no rush to her decision as I showed my wench the support she deserved from a friend.
Vadoma let out a huge sigh. “If I tell you, you will hate me. I do not want to ruin our friendship over something I had to make a quick decision on.” She paused, which I let the pause continue uninterrupted by my voice.
After a few moments of her staring at me, she sighed. “I guess you have the right to know.” Vadoma looked off towards the lake in the distance, to where the fog rolled off of the lake, as it masked the lake in a white mist. Her jaw muscle flexed, which gave her face a hard edge.
“With being a healer, we have to make decisions quickly on how to treat people, when the wounds are very bad. There were decisions I had to make when I first started caring for you.” Her voice trailed off in the memory, as I sat there listening to her while watching the most beautiful face I had known in my life. At this particular time, I should say…
Her regard returned to me. “Your eye.” Her voice choked up as I waited for the emotion to pass. There was a slight tremble to her body, as if she was scared what she would say would end the world.
I looked at her with my good eye as I pointed at it. “Yup. This is my eye. I am kinda using it at the moment, so you can not borrow it or anything.” My voice turned from teasing to serious. “There is nothing you can say which will change how I think of you.”
Vadoma exclaimed loudly, “Yes, there is!” She lifted her head while she stood up. She took a few steps towards the misty lake, which was in the distance. I sat up with my favorite pillow having moved as I looked at her with my left eyebrow cocked. “Can you just stop it with your eye? I can not handle it right now.”
I looked at her perplexed. Her words spilled, like a dam bursting from the pressure of the water behind it, as she was unable to hold her words back anymore. “When your mother had brought you to Groenplaats, I was the first person there, as you know. When we had gotten you inside, you were already unconscious. Besides the massive trauma to your eye, you had a blood vessel which had ruptured behind the remains of your eye, when you hit the ground outside of the medical building.”
Vadoma started pacing back and forth while wringing her hands in a worried gesture she used when she was seriously worried over something. Then, she stopped as she turned to look me in the eye, before she took a deep breath. “I had to make a choice. There was a slight chance, and when I say slight, I mean I probably could not have done it, as your eye was that damaged, I could have saved it. Or, I could save your life. I decided to save your life and get to the bleeder, so I could stop the bleeding. You had lost so much blood, and I was unsure how much more blood you could have lost. So, I…uh…” She trailed off as her confidence left her. I let her have this moment of confession. There was something here which troubled her greatly.
She glanced towards me, before she said in a whisper filled with shame and regret, “I was the one to cut the rest of your eye from your head. I mean, I did not really have a choice. And, I was unsure if I could save your eye. I was not sure how much time you had left…” She sank to the ground, on her knees, as tears pouring down her face.
&nb
sp; I staggered to my knees, before crawling to her to take a cheek in each hand, while I turned her face to look into mine. “And? You have no responsibility in me getting the wound. You made a call which would either save my life or maybe save my life.” I could feel her guilt at not being able to do more. I leaned closer to her face, “You did what you thought was right; therefore, I can not judge you for doing what you thought was right. I hold no dishonor in your actions, you wench.”
She let out a sobbing chuckle as tears started pouring down her cheeks. That was the moment I had felt the greatest need to kiss her, to take her pain away. I wanted to hide her from any hard decision again, so she would not have to be in pain like this. She showed me just how much she cared for me and our friendship. Being so ashamed of her deeds, she was questioning her own actions. This moment was the moment I knew I had to kiss her. I pulled her forehead to my lips, before gently kissing her forehead, while pulling her head into my arms where she started to sob. I let her release the pain, which she held, into my arms as I started gently rocking us, as she sobbed into me. I held her the entire time as she cried. The sobs came in waves till she was all cried out.
She started to push away from me; however, I tightly held her as I slowly placed a kiss to the top of her head. The smell of roses filled my nose as I released her to sit up. Her eyes were puffy and red from her crying.
“Well…if you had not done it, I could not have made the various studies on your butt,” a wry grin coming to my face at our old banter between us.
“Will you just leave my butt out of your conversation for a day?” She let a little pause go by, before a wry grin painted her face, “And, out of your vision.”
I let my face go serious as I responded, “But, that butt is the center of many inspiring poets, which I would be heart broken if I had to stop looking at it.”
A burst of laughter exploded from her mouth. “Jerk”
“Wench.”
I reached out my right hand to her face as I placed my palm on her left cheek, while my thumb absently wiped away the remaining tears on her face. I asked with all the seriousness I had at my disposal, “You good?”
She looked at me in shock. “That is all you have to say? ‘You good?’”
“Powers that Be, wench, what do you want me to say? Go back to save my life again? Go back to do what you think is the best thing for the situation, like you have already done? I was not there, I mean I was there, but I was not awake. I trust you. I know your heart, and I know how it deeply cares for everyone around you, especially your best, favorite, weird friend in the whole world too!” The smile on my face was the biggest I could make on my face. “It is what makes me love you the way in which I do.”
And, there my mouth goes on it’s walk about, not even bothering to check in with my brain on what it wanted to say. Just use that L word to your heart’s delight, oh dear tongue. We will have words on this.
A shy smile formed on Vadoma’s lips. “That is what makes you love me the way you do? Do you really mean that?” Her voice was small, as it seemed to come from so far away to reach my ears, like the question was given a little life to explore this new world it found itself in but was unsure if it wanted to live in this new world of life and hope.
“Well duh, wench. You are my best friend I have never had. So yes, I love you as my friend.”
It took her a moment to voice any words, before she said with resignation in her voice, “And I like you too, as my friend.”
Now see, the evidence is right here! I am just a friend, and it takes everything for her to tell me she likes me as just her friend.
I let my hand fall from her cheek as I glanced out towards the lake, which she had her back to now. My voice was close to breaking with her previous words, “You know, you were right about you would kill me with the beautiful scenery.”
Vadoma’s head turned to the lake, as she took in the scene. After a moment, she turned to sit facing the lake, as she leaned her back into me, while my arms wrapped around her waist, as we watched the sun’s rise on that lake. The sun stripped away the fog for another day of life.
◆◆◆
Later in the morning, we made it to the lake before we started to ride around the lake’s Southern coast. Vadoma pointed to the rocky ridge, while she told me the cave was just over the rise.
Our horses were getting a drink from the lake when I looked to Vadoma. “Hey, wench. Can we make camp here for today? I am still pretty tired, and I could use some rest. I mean, we are not in a hurry after all, are we?”
She chuckled while she responded, “You mean to say, you want to be killed by the scenery of this lake.” She lifted her chin imperiously, “I guess we could. Then, on the morrow, we ride to the cave and can always come back here to this site, after we are done exploring.” She smelled herself, “And, we could use a bath. I stink.”
I had to laugh at the cuteness of her bunched up nose, as it looked as if there was something bad smelling in the air. “Do you want to fish or set up camp?”
“Fish? You know how to fish?” She quipped back instantly.
“Well, yea. I grew up in Moeraplaats. Everyone there knows how to fish. Do you not know how to fish?”
She was shaking her head while looking at the ground sheepishly. Her bottom lip was between her teeth again. “Do you think you can teach me?”
“Do fish swim?” I quipped back instantly.
“Last time I checked, they do. I can go ask them if they still swim, or if they want to learn how to grow legs and invade the world….” Vadoma trailed off as she got lost in her own comment.
“Well, if you go ask them, then we will never be able to fish, because they will know we are here.” I reasoned aloud.
“Then you go ask the fish if they are wanted to invade our world,” she quipped back at me.
“Wench, I like you, but that tangent…You are not going to make it work.”
“Says you. In my head, I am already talking to the fish leader to negotiate our peaceful coexistence with them.” Vadoma held her chin up.
So, it went as we set up camp, before I went about fishing for sun’s rise meal. After we exchanged places, Vadoma had caught three fish, while I had went to start the fire. She had proudly held up the last fish, which she had caught. It happened to be the biggest of the three. I had to chuckle at her proud smirk, as I did not even get a bite while fishing. I gutted the fish before I stuck them on sticks to hold over the fire, so they could cook unattended while the sticks were in the ground.
“Do you want to hop into the lake and have your bath before sun’s rise meal? I promise, I will not peak at your butt,” Vadoma asked me with a teasing tone to her voice.
I cocked my left eyebrow at her as I responded, “Well, if you will not peak, that will take all the fun out of it.”
With my words, she closed the gap between us, before she was laying her hand on my right cheek, as she kissed my left cheek. Her sudden movement and lingering touch ignited a fire in my loins.
She looked into my eye, while she said with a seriousness which I have rarely heard from her. “Go on. Get cleaned up. I am sure a bath will help you feel a bit better, after you get the trail dust off of you.” I grabbed her hand from my right cheek with both hands, which I gave her hand a gentle squeeze before releasing it.
Her hands and eyes dropped to the belt buckle, which held the sword belt to my waist. She gentle unbuckled the belt, before clumsily trying to remove it from around my waist. Her face came in close to mine, as she reached behind me to grab the ends of the belt together into one hand, before taking the belt and laying it on the ground, next to the fire.
Her hands went to my Kikko armor’s top button. She slowly unbuttoned each button, as her lips were still but a breath away from my lips, though she refused to look into my face. I stood stock still as she unbuttoned my armor, before she slid her hands under the armor, to the front of my shoulders, while gently pushing the armor back. It fell to the grass covered ground. My b
ottom lip went between my teeth at the touch of her hands on me, as a small moan escaped from around my bottom lip.
Her eyes went to the buttons on the doublet’s front, before unbuttoning each button one at a time, until the front was unbuttoned. Then, she turned her focus to my sleeves, as she ran her hands up my arms, before she unbuttoned my sleeves. Afterwards, she gently took my forearms in her fingers, as she removed the bracers on them, as she let the bracers fall to the grass at our feet. I gingerly shrugged out of the doublet before letting it fall on top of my Kikko armor, as she went to her knees to unlace my boots. She held each boot as I pulled my feet out of each one, which I almost fell over many times, causing me to grab onto her shoulders a few times to steady myself. After the boots were discarded, she unbuttoned my pants, before she tried to slip them from my hips.
This was the point in which gravity decided it was tired of losing to me. It claimed me as I hit the ground. I pulled my pants off before getting up from the ground, as I was afraid of what would happen if I stayed on the ground, with her undressing me in the way in which she was doing.
She stood in front of me before gently grabbing the bottom of my chemise, while she checked with her eyes if it was okay, in an unspoken question, which never needed to be voiced by her to me. My muscles went on a walk about as I nodded my head slightly to her.
I swear time tried to stop as she pulled the chemise over my head, while letting her thumbs run up my sides, as her eyes locked onto my eye. At the point of the chemise going over my eye sight, she slowed the motion even more, as she let the chemise block my normal vision. I closed my eye. The wind showed her peeking over my exposed body, before biting her lower lip in the same want which radiated from my body.
I was being the smooth person I am, with the fact this moment, the one I have dreamed of for so many months, scared me to death. She saw me as she saw through me. I pulled out of the chemise, before sprinting towards the lake, to dive into the frigid water.
Relonor's Journal Page 10