Mahnu, An Immortal's Journey

Chapter 5

Thinking about state of affairs later in his tent, that they had put up in Nowell, the King suddenly found the maiden that didn't speak, was staring at him in sadness. He wondered in surprise to how she could just come into a King's tent like that!?

Was that her speciality? He thought. Disappearing and appearing whenever she wants too!

...And then he wanted to know why she looked so sad...

She heard him, even though a word was not spoken, and silently told him it was his own thoughts that made her sad and her self-hatred for not being able to save the child. It isn't something she could easily forget, as the child's mother was now suffering because of it.

All the problems he was thinking about and how eager he was to fix them all, made her pity him. She has tried to stop the suffering of the people for so long and here he was trying to make things better in a human's life span.

In over a thousand years, nothing has changed, the humans still suffer and here he was so enthusiastic about it...She wondered if she should tell him not to bother.

Instead, she found herself kneeling in front of him, wishing him all the best in his mission. She was not just sad though, because his enthusiasm to help people made her happy. It let her know that she was not the only one helping the people after all...

King Richard was amazed how heart felt her face and kneeling was to him. It was sincere and to find such innocence these days was hardly heard of...

He knelt beside her, asking her what she is trying to say. Of course, though, she doesn't say anything or move.

She's become a statue...He thinks.

Then King Richard sighs, annoyed that she didn't speak. "Is it that you want to join me?"

Her nod surprised him and herself. This is not something she normally does but he does give her questions that she wanted answers to, such as why does he dream about the past, when he wasn't even there? And why do his actions get to her?

There had been a very little number of humans till now that made her feel curious to the extent of staying with them...If only for a short while.

She knew very well that questions weren't a direction she wanted to take, but accepting this proposal feels like the right thing to do right now.

"I prefer it if you didn't become a soldier, even though I've seen your..." The King sighed, then continued, "Ten years ago, you tied up the person who tried to kill me, didn't you?"

He was close to her now, he could smell her. She needs a bath! He thought.

She nodded, confused on what he was thinking. Although he was right, that she hadn't had a bath in a long time, but she hadn't seen the need to have one.

I won't get sick and I don't stay near people for them to get sick, she thought defensively. Why does he care so much that I should be clean!? And...Why is it that I feel like we aren't talking about something important!?

"But then..." He put his hands through her dirty hair, seeing her flinch and his hands stopped shortly after because of knots. "You ran away. I had worried over you. I wanted to know if you had gotten an antidote in time. I didn't want to think you would have died because of me...But now, that I see you are unharmed, I'm grateful. Thank you for saving my life."

His close contact was scary to her, which wasn't an emotion that she was used to. Was it because I think he would continue to chase me? Even if that is so, why would that scare me, she thought, angry with herself.

Being a God, there wasn't anything to be scared about, but why him?

...It must be because I'm not used to being touched by others...