Gaiagon

Chapter 7: Is This Goodbye?

The rest of the day seemed to go by slowly. Seth was lost in thought, and most of his thoughts were sad ones. The only reason he never showed his sadness was because he could only smile when he saw Sylva, and he always smile when she smiled at him. Dinner seemed to go by quickly, however, and the next thing Seth knew was that he was in bed thinking. There was a sea of things on his mind, but three topics kept coming to mind more than any others: Sylva soon leaving, the demons possibly coming to his town, and him taking Sylva to the Forgon the next day. The last subject surprisingly came up most often, because Seth was wondering why she was so exited o meet a Forgon family of five in the woods. Yes, they are considered holy beasts in her culture, but did she have more reasons than that? Was she planning on doing something with them?

He couldn’t fall asleep that night, because every time he cleared his mind, he would think instantly on one of those three subjects again. Finally, Seth decided he needed fresh air, and maybe a place to fully clear his mind. He got out of bed, got dressed in something cozy, and walked outside. At first, he could clear his mind no matter what he did. He would just stare at the moon and question. Suddenly, Seth got a great idea for how to go to sleep. He removed the coat he was wearing and put his hands together. He closed his eyes, hoping to concentrate rather than blank his mind. Sylva, who also couldn’t sleep, had been sitting on the roof doing the same as Seth. She too had developed something that made her not want to leave. She wondered and pondered how to save her village without having to leave the Hurthhearts, who had so warmly welcomed her and taken care of her. She especially thought about how she would miss Seth.

Taking her gaze off of the moon for a second, Sylva looked down to see Seth who was facing away from the house. He was still standing with his eyes closed and his hands together. She wanted to go down to talk to him, but she felt that would only make it harder to eventually leave. As she watched him for a couple of minutes, she noticed that he was swaying very slightly, almost to the point that she barely noticed. Then, as the swaying stopped, Seth bent his knees. His thighs were perpendicular to the ground, and his knees were facing out with an almost perfect ninety degree angle between them. Sylva looked confused, and then realized what he was doing.

Seth stretched out his arms as he released all his breath. As he breathed back in, he slowly bent to his left. Then, just as Sylva realized what he was doing, Seth quickly jolted his upper body to the right and extended his legs to help him do a cartwheel. He continued to do cartwheel until he reached a patch of grass that was stepped on more than the rest by him and his family. He then grabbed his blade which he had perched up against tree, drew the sword from out of its sheath, took another deep breath, then began to dash forward. Sylva quickly recognized his actions, because they matched the dance she had shown him that morning. Sylva watched intently as Seth leaped and jolted with his sword in his right hand. After a minute or two, Seth stopped all of his actions, turned to the moon once again, and drove his sword into the ground. After he had finished breathing heavily, Seth took the blade back to the tree where he had brought a cloth. He whipped the dirt off of the metal end, and then placed the sword back in its sheath. Sylva was surprised how Seth had done the entire dance perfectly. He had even mastered the huge flip in the middle and end.

She watched as Seth went inside. Seth went back to bed and slept like a baby in a matter of seconds. Sylva, on the other hand, stayed outside and pondered one last thought. She decided that she had to find a way to take Seth with her. She knew that he cared for her, because he had cared so much to master the dance. She pondered how to do so for another half hour, and then decided to rest.

The next morning, Seth walked downstairs with energy in every step. He came to the conclusion that all he needed was exercise. He ate breakfast in peace and noticed that Sylva had not come downstairs yet. By the time he had finished, she still had not come down. He turned to his mother who was working on his father’s breakfast and said, “Mom, could you go check on Sylva for me, please? I don’t want to walk in and risk anything embarrassing. Plus, if she is sleeping in, it might be a girl thing.” “Sure, honey, I’ll go when I finish your father’s breakfast.” Once she was done, Seth’s mother walked upstairs and into the guest room to find Sylva’s bed made and neat, but without Sylva anywhere to be seen. She rushed downstairs to tell Seth, who instantly became worried. He thought to himself, “I wonder if she left to make the inevitable departure less painful…”