The Haunt of Danzig Ruin

A Fireside Chat

               They camped that evening at the old Leidenschaftlich military settlement, just as they had before. All Petrich and Nora could do for a moment was simply stare at the fire blackened stone pit where it seemed campers had been less than a week before. Those campers had been themselves, but their minds had been away in the Dream Plain for well over three years.
It was just another element of the many juxtapositions they would be contending with throughout the rest of this 'after' existence. Reconciling one existence with the other was proving mentally difficult, to say the least.
"Perhaps these moments will feel less jolting to you both in the long run." Fitz said to Nora when they were alone together, gathering buckets of river water for their camp.
"Yes, they have to, don't they?
Noticing her downtrodden expression, Fitz had Nora sit.
"What is it, Nora?"
Nora did not look at her, but kept her eyes on the flowing river. "I am twenty-three years in age in here, if anywhere." Nora tapped her temple. "But in our actual existing reality, I am seventeen years old." She fell silent, seemingly at a loss of how to continue her train of thought.
"Does your concern lie in your relationship with Petrich?"
"Among other things, yes. We were bound before entering into the Dream Plain, but made no real move to be together, intimately until only a year ago. . . Or was it all just a dream?? A long, vivid dream?"
Fitz shook her head. "Don't think that way. You both returned with proof of mental growth as well as physical items. Continue as you have been. There is no real reason not to. You are a mere week from your eighteenth birthday, for heaven's sake!"
A ghost of a grin touched Nora's mouth. "True. I had just grown so accustomed to being so very close, he is reluctant to even touch me now. He's reverted to being cautious and responsible over me."
"Ah." Fitz commented thoughtfully, "Well, now you can put to use all you've learned with him in the past three years to begin again. Many people wish for such an opportunity with their significant other. Put it to your advantage. Improve whatever seemed, well, awkward the first time round."
Nora laughed a little and looked at Fitz levelly. "What I learned from being bound and intimate is that there is no such thing as awkward."
"Oh. . .I see," Fitz cleared her throat, then said brightly, "All the better, then!"
Other pressing topics were discussed among them all around the fire pit throughout the evening. One very important issue being what they would tell Tim's sister, Adelaide once they reached Kush.
           "I've actually thought of that," Fitz replied, "We shall tell her the truth, just not the detailed truth. Tim was, indeed, found dead. The why and the wherefore can stay speculative. We will tell her we brought down Tim's remains and laid them with those of Davin Rowe. I still have the coordinates of the exact location so the cairn came be easily found."
           "Yes. The truth. Sketchy, but still the truth." Leon replied.
              Fitz shrugged. "As a former police inspector, telling it this way pains me, but imagine telling any more than that?"
             "A complete mess, surely," assured Petrich, "Especially with a police force that couldn't care less, if memory serves."
              "Now, what have you ultimately decided to do with the Danzig tapestry?" Nora wanted to know.
               It was a subject Leon and Petrich had discussed together, but had yet to disclose their decision of the tapestry's fate.
              Leon shook his head. "I know you've promised it to Woxlichen, but I still have doubts if they'd be willing to pay its worth."
              "I think there may be someone who could help with that situation." Petrich said, as they all looked at him awaiting a name. "Dietfried Baugainvillea."
               The rest stayed silent for a moment, until Fitz said, "He'd make a great resource. Dietfried's connections with, well, everyone could be the key to convincing Woxlichen that they actually need such an item." She looked at Petrich and grinned. "Perhaps they want another Hollenburg piece to go along with the one they have already."
            Petrich nodded. "Perhaps. I feel sure Dietfried would know how to make it happen. And if we can all be in agreement, I wish to disclose the detailed truth to him, even as far as giving him access to my journal. Can we all consent to that?"
             "If you have his trust, then, by all means." Leon replied.
              Petrich looked to Fitz for her answer. "You said as much in the letter you wrote to me." she said, "So, yes, I give consent that Dietfried should be given as much information as I have."
               Petrich grinned. "Good. Now," he looked to Nora, sitting beside him.
                "I already know the profound trusting love you have for Dietfried, as do I. Of course I agree." she answered.
                Petrich gazed at her a moment longer, and took her hand in his. "Then it is settled." he concluded.
                It was only a few hours before dawn when they finally lay on their pallets to find sleep. Once Nora knew Fitz and Leon were well into their slumber, she nestled her body against Petrich's. 
               Petrich turned to face her, unable to see much more than a shadow, but felt her arms wind about him, and her mouth touch his in a sensuous kiss.
               In a week, we shall begin again, you and I. She thought out to him. Although it is no real beginning at all. I know your mind. I know your body. In this 'after' we will be strong as no others before us.
                Nora and Petrich turned onto their backs, turning their faces up to the clear, star filled predawn sky. They both could see wisps of illuminated lines connecting various stars, then disappearing only for others to reveal themselves, just for a second or two, then disappearing.
                How beautiful the universe truly is, as it shall be forever and ever.
               "Amen," Petrich said softly aloud, before taking her into his arms again, and soon finding peaceful, dreamless sleep.

The End