Arcanum

22

I wasn't sure what exactly suddenly gave me the courage to finally talk to Iphi. Maybe it was the way we just had a little crisis meeting, maybe it was the fact that I was having some sort of tragic premonition. Maybe I was just exhausted and tired and wanted to get this over with, because I knew it would just be another thing that would be on my mind for ages. Or maybe it was just the fact that I had an opportunity to talk to Iphi, when I offered to walk her back home.

It wasn't like she needed someone to walk back home with her or like she needed some sort of protection or whatever, but she had been off all day. Plus, after this night she was exhausted and just not herself. It seemed like a logical thing to do, because neither Allen nor I really trusted her not to get lost or get into some kind of trouble. She was upset and she had barely slept and she was not doing well emotionally. We didn't think she should be alone on her way home.

Plus, the nights were getting way colder now that it wasn't long until the new semester would start and Iphi had only brought a cardigan with her. I lent her my warm winter coat, but I would need to take it back home with me on the way back, so the easiest thing to do seemed to be to walk her home. We could have called her a taxi, of course, but I wanted to spend some time with her.

We didn't really talk much as we started walking. It had started to rain a little bit - only a slight drizzle, but enough to soak you to the bone if you stayed out long enough - and the first few leaves were falling off the trees. The street was almost completely empty, except for a few parked cars. There was no one out and about at this time anymore, not even any of the students. Most of them were at home for the summer anyway and whoever had stayed here was either working or going to summer school and would have to get up early in the morning.

The five of us were quite the exception when it came to how we spent our summers. Sure, Ruben went back home to his family, but I knew for a fact that most of us weren't even remotely close with our families. Not close enough to spend the summer there, anyway. But we all had enough financial support to just afford living here for the entire summer as well. I knew that Allen had been working part-time, but the rest of us just lived into the day as if we had no worries. And I suppose all our worries would have been quite different to those of our peers.

I could hear Iphi humming softly beside me. She was staring into the night as we walked along the dark, abandoned street. She didn't seem to be as upset and nervous anymore, but maybe that was just because she was so tired. I sure was absolutely tired after this entire evening. And I also suspected that I would have trouble falling asleep, because there was just so much new information in my head that I would have to think about and that I would have to somehow work with and live with from now on. And I didn't really think that would be easy.

"What song is that?" I asked her, not sure if she had really meant for me to hear her humming or not. She looked up at me, almost surprised to see that I was still there, as if she had forgotten about me being around.

"Dulcis Amor. It's a song adapted from the Carmina Burana. I think the original first line is Veris Dulcis In Tempore." she replied. I tried to remember the piece and I was pretty sure that I did remember some lines from it...

"Dulcis amor. Qui te caret hoc tempore, fit vilior. Is that right?" I asked. Iphigenia smiled and nodded.

"Yes. Sweet love. Who are without you at this time, are truly poor. It's a nice one, even though Ruben tends to disagree." she told me. I rolled my eyes and laughed. Of course Ruben would disagree.

"Which one does he prefer? Bacchus sepe visitans mulierem genus? Or In taberna quando sumus?"

"I think both of those, depending on his mood at the time. And, surprisingly, he also really likes Tempus Est Iocundum."