Womanish Lady

Chapter 23:

"Goodbye!" he sniffed. "goodbye."

"Siomi, you can still come by often. You just can't sleep over any longer."

"It's not the same."

"We were able to buy you a few days saying that you were sick. I can't keep you any longer."

He sighed at his feet.

"I know,"

Siomi's time to sleep in Her Teacher's house was over. He woke up early so he could rejoin the other male civil servants before they had to get to work. Fuyaiyah and Her Teacher wanted to see him off, which took awhile.

The house was really lively with Siomi being able to be with Fuyaiyah casually. Her Teacher constantly felt like he had two children that he had to keep his eyes on, but it was a familiar feeling, so he didn't mind and enjoyed the atmosphere.

After he finally left, Fuyaiyah watched her Teacher clean up behind Siomi. She realized that since gaining consciousness, she hasn't told Her Teacher about her time at the Palace and as a civil maiden. Her Teacher only knew from what the Palace, or Siomi knew, but since he would be her caregiver for a while, she felt obligated to tell.

"Teacher?" She began, when she saw him standing in the middle of the room, looking around. "Before the sun rises, I'd like to tell you my time before you brought me here."

He looked at her and smiled.

"Sure. let me get a fire going and some tea boiling first."

Fuyaiyah smiled and nodded and continued to think on where to start until Her Teacher finally sat down.

She took a sip of the tea and looked him in the eye.

"I don't know what I'm doing, but I think it's along the lines of wanting to preserve what remains of us, and myself."

By the time Fuyaiyah finished, Her Teacher moved to the seat beside her and was hugging her in a genuine manner because she had trouble speaking going towards the end.

"Aah. I see. That makes everything clearer, but I can't say I'm surprised at all." He continued after ending the hug. "You just want to free everyone, but given reality, it's impossible to do that without losing people and shedding some blood. Your sister's right - you need to learn how to shoot."

Her Teacher stood up and went to his room. Meanwhile, Fuyaiyah calmed herself down by drinking the tea that was cold.

He came back out with a much bigger, professional looking archery set.

"Until I find time to teach you how to shoot, I can teach you the proper stance and way to hold the bow. Come here for a second."

"My stance is awful." she said.

"Most likely," he agreed. "But I need to see what I'm working with. Come, come."

Fuyaiyah reluctantly went over to him. She was handed the bow and was placed in front of an open window, and she, even more reluctantly, showed him her stance.

"Oh no," he grimaced. "That must've been why those women didn't want you to fight with them."

She immediately broke stance but couldn't help her laughter.

"See? This is why I didn't want to show you!"

He laughed.

"It's okay, it's okay. Let me show you the right stance."

As Her Teacher was readjusting her to the proper stance, Fuyaiyah had been thinking about her Teacher's unchanging face when she told him about Harun and what he shared.

"Do you also know something of what Harun told me about?"

"Of course," he said casually. Not bothered at all.

Fuyaiyah got a little upset.

"Could you tell me more?

"No."

She gave him a side look but tried to hide her dissatisfaction.

Her Teacher saw it from the corner of his eye anyway.

"You said that Harun told you some things, right? Didn't he also say that we old timers promised not to tell you youngsters?"

Fuyaiyah lowered her arms a little.

"Yeah but precious lives are at stake here! Now's not the time to keep a pinky promise!"

He wasn't fazed but only repositioned her arms.

"That promise was only made from all of us understanding, and agreeing with the Headmaster." He corrected her arms and stepped back. "I wish I could let you know, for the sake of your comfort, but I can't."