A Place To Bloom

The Best Friend

Sarina looked different from everyone else. The people of Gath were mostly Herali; we had olive-green skin. Most of us had straight, dark-green hair, while Talys's hair was a bit wavy and Dariana's had streaks of yellow. Most of us had deep emerald-green eyes, but Sarina looked very different. Her skin was a light yellow—I liked to say it was because of all the sunshine she carried with her. Her hair was golden-bronze and given to tiny curls that fell into a mass all about her face. She used to 'torture' me—her hair would get tangled up and she 'made' me spend hours helping her comb it out while I savored every moment of those soft curls in my fingers. Her eyes looked black like coals even when the summer sun caught her face directly. Her cheeks were soft, her nose was round, her lips were absolutely flawless.

She was my first kiss. I remember that day; we had all gone up the Mousehead—an easy climb that we could summit and be back home before nightfall. Geraln decided he was too tired and left about a quarter of the way up. Later we found out he'd eaten all the minicakes Guenevieve's mum had made for us himself. I was so mad!

Tor and I led the way. We were at a decision point; we could either continue the trail around for about an hour and a half, or climb up the old rockslide and be up in about twenty minutes. We knew what we wanted to do, but the question was whether everyone else would be up to it. So we went back and found the girls had gotten into some kind of game where they'd put all the boys' names into a hat and took turns prognosticating on who was going to kiss who first. Runya went, and she pulled Davod's name. She was so livid! "I'm never going to kiss that bloated buffoon! I'd sooner kiss a goat's arse!" and she picked up Sarina's hat with all the names in it and tossed it down the ravine.

Late that night, Sarina came to lie down next to me. That was nothing unusual; since we were little kids she would wake up in the night hearing voices and come stay with me.

"Can I do an experiment?" she whispered.

"Sure," I said, and she kissed me.

Just like that. She met her lips to mine for a fleeting moment, then curled up in my arms and went to sleep. My world was forever changed.

The day I was called, after we left Dariana's place, she led me back to the church. We went around to the side door and behind the chapel to the narrow, winding staircase that creaked as it led us up to the belfry where we could look out and see the entire village of thatched roofs and the terraced farmland reaching up the mountains on both sides like giant staircases. There we listened to the water rushing over the rocks as the creek ran through the center of town, and I stole a moment to look upon her face.

I was still reeling from the ale Dariana had given me, yet Sarina produced a small wineskin and offered it to me.

"Who'd you steal this one from?"

She giggled and brushed a tuft of hair over her ear. My eyes settled on her soft cheeks, bathed in the warm air of high noon cut briefly by a cool breeze blowing off the mountains.

"How far did she get with you?" she asked, still smiling.

I winced at the question, unsure how much I should even share.

"I bet she was excited to see you," she said.

"She did seem that way."

"How far did she get with you?"

"Not as far as... I mean... I didn't touch her. I've never..."

"I'm not your wife, Caleb, you can do whatever you like."

"I know that!"

She grinned wide and watched as I took a good swig of the wine she brought. Red, and lacking the maturity of a well-oaked batch, yet sweet on the palate. Sarina took a swig, and we shared a few more sips together as we watched the crows carry some prize to a small nook by a gray-brick chimney on a rooftop below only to fight over it.