Without Words, Without Sight

4: Return

Iris stood by the lake, motionless, hands folded and resting on her stomach.

She inhaled deeply to take in the atmosphere. A full moon night, no doubt at all. So it had been a month since she last came here. At first she had been afraid to return. Then she had felt herself grow anxious, restless, curious. This isn't right, Iris had scolded herself. An unbecoming and conceited thought! He will not come back for you, silly girl, she had kept telling herself. But in the end, when she had stepped out of the door and felt the familiar light flowing around her, she could not restrain herself any longer.

Grasses had hissed, branches cracked, a crow had flown up, its irritated cooing soon one with the darkness. Upon feeling the silken sand under her bare feet, she had stopped breathlessly.

But the lake had lain solitary.

Silently gurgling to greet her as always.
Maybe this time it was a bit angry with her for not having come here for so long.

Of course he would not be here. You are lucky he did not kill you on the spot for the unspeakable insult of not showing him the due respect, she thought and smiled bitterly at her own naivety.

She exhaled, to the very last drop of breath, to relieve herself of the dark, nameless feeling that threatened to build up inside her.

Still, she could not help feeling a little disappointed.
She had not spoken another word about the matter to Larentia, but she knew that she could not have been mistaken.

It had been the King.

Yes, Iris was blind, but she was not unseeing. She could see more than anyone would have suspected, including her beloved nurse. Indeed, she could see them all: The black lake in front of her, glistening white where its waves resounded, the frog jumping in vain to catch the fluttering moth just by the mumbling water's edge, making a plump sound accompanied by a stupefied croak as its belly hit the surface. The thick foliage swaying and bending in the soft breeze of the night, as if the darkness were but a star adorned cloak being thrown onto the land, moving the air beneath it until it came to rest.
And she saw the moon, high above everything else, a white marble emitting the most gentle light she could imagine. It seeped in her skin, entangled in her hair and warmed her whole soul. "You are my moon", she remembered her mother say. In fact, it was the only thing she remembered of her mother.

Iris opened her eyes again. It still felt natural to do so.

At least I feel a bit calmer now, she thought to herself.
What could this thronging feeling mean? She had felt as if the whole world would fall apart around her if she did not obey it. Her feet had just followed her instincts. Somehow, she was a little scared of herself.

What are you getting yourself into, she wondered.

On the other side of the darkening forest, the King of the beasts stood tall, madly in love. He had not been raised to be a cowardly idiot, unaware of his own feelings or their nature. He knew.
Why, then, was it so hard to step into the undergrowth?
He had felt a bit silly when instructing his servants to collect all the flowers and fruit they could possibly find around the castle. But then again, they feared him direly, they would not dare question anything he did. If it was for a woman, all the better, they might have said. Not that he cared.

And yet he had to admit that there had been fights in his life that were infinitely easier begun than this task.

This was not like him.
He laughed at himself for a moment, then straightened his back and made a wide step forward. This was not something to be nervous about. This was something to savour, to celebrate.

The undergrowth gave way to its ruler with a last susurration.
And there she stood, in all her splendour.
Her black dress clung to her delicate arms and chest, only to unfold into a wide skirt that accentuated her slender hips. Her white hair was falling around her in large waves, flowing even more now that it was dry. And these lovely horns! Before he knew it, he was standing in front of her.