A Place To Bloom

Nuggets

Images of Miyani dominated my thoughts, and I couldn't sleep. Enough with her delicious, delicious body, just the way she looked at me drove me insane. The look in her eyes as she gazed up at me, the way she held her lips when she reached out to me and touched me. I knew it was just a game, but damn.

We'd made it out of the trees when I snapped my hand towards her, "touch," and ran off towards the gate. She chased after me, and I'd made it to about a hundred yards from the giant alligator when I peeked around. No sooner than I had, and she caught me, about a tenth as winded as I was and looking at me with a smile that gave off the deepest of sincerities. We started to work our way around the No Swimming sign, keeping a glance at one another daring each to get a touch in and taking turns pointing at the beast with one finger over our giggling lips.

I wanted to kiss her. We'd gotten back to her apartment, a large cluster of grass-covered domes, where we taught each other the words for good-night, and ended that with a long hug. She lowered her arms and ran her fingers all over my bum being absolutely unshy about it, and I couldn't help but feel the invitation. I had to bend over to reach down some, but I took her delicious round arse in my covetous hands.

We hugged until dark.

It rained through the night. Thunder cracked hard overhead to herald the waxing blue of morning, punctuated by flashes of lightning and the unceasing sound of rain clattering into pools outside.

And with that came Sarina.

Days chasing one another across the stone walls of the terraces that climbed up the mountainside back home in Gath, only to reach the top and sit together overlooking the valley below with the cool breeze flitting my hair about and it was just the two of us, lying down together. Her black eyes, her soft lips that only in time as I grew I understood the meaning of, yet from the time we hid from our chores when we were six, running through the garden and hiding beneath the cool shade of a grape vine, she was always my one.

It's called a nightmare. Mother says that's what you call it when you have a dream and the dream is scary. She says the plague left an ouchie on my brain and I will always have them. I'm scared...

I'd written to Sarina about Mebibi—about all the girls I'd met in Kyoen. I told her how I'd met Mebibi in the marketplace where the bishop would send me out on deliveries. Her father had a stall, and she used to glance at me sheepishly until I went over to talk to her. I told her about Alys, who brought me gifts and invited me to watch her dance recital.

Sarina wrote me back.

Caleb, you're an idiot. If you like this Mebibi, you need to stop entertaining Alys. She's trying to pull you away from her. You need to make a decision and stick with it or else you're bound to lose them both.

She was right, and I should have listened. I wondered what she'd have to say about Miyani?

Caleb, you don't know this woman. She could be some controlling psychobitch, and you literally can't ask her favorite color! You need to stop thinking about her arse and pay attention—she's got a jealous lizard that can rip your throat out in under a second, and she thinks a severed human body part makes a nice gift. I say this because you're my best friend and I love you, but exactly which mushrooms have you been eating?

Miyani did have a beautiful arse, though.

Water droplets sprayed through the open window where a fresh spider web filled the space like gossamer crystals in the morning cloudlight. Outside, the rain began to abate, leaving a lake where the yard used to be with tufts of grass peeking above the surface all around.

The thought of walking through that with my boots and soaking my toes for the next several hours made me understand why the natives walked around barefoot. And so, without Mother Searnie to chastise me, I went as they did. Then it occurred to me that I also had the garment Tani had given me the evening prior—a silk strap to go between my legs with a flap at the front and back, set about a soft, silk belt around my waist. I felt naked. I also put on the necklace Miyani had given me, though I wasn't sure if that was a good idea given how macabre it was, and my bow sling over my shoulder. I also had the leather satchel that held my medical kit, but other than that I was naked—this would take some getting used to. There was a nook in my bow sling that I threaded my hair through to keep it out of the way, and without my shirt on I could feel the ends tickle the small of my back.