Savoirs

Adam

I was exhausted when we arrived back at the cabin but we needed to make sure Jason was fixed up before anything else was done. So, I helped get water, helped when they stitched his wounds, helped through it all. So did the girls. The four of them knelt next to him by the fire and cleaned his wounds. Jaclyn left when they pulled out the needle and thread. I stayed. Joseph kept the kids busy in another room and I would hear him shout something like he was telling a story. All through it I ached and longed to sleep but I didn't. I wanted to know he would be alright. 

So when everyone else was asleep Jaclyn crept back into the room I knew. I watched from my corner I had claimed and she sat next to the fire place, out of my view and I heard her say something to Jason. She fell silent and after a few minutes laid down and fell asleep. When I was certain everyone was asleep I stood and padded silently over to Jason. He lay there next to the fire and I laid a hand on his shoulder. His skin was warm and for a moment I was afraid he had a fever. I quickly dismissed that thought telling myself it hadn't been long enough for infection to set in.

"We are worried about you Jason." I mutter and the fire flickers. I sigh and hear someone stir. I stand and turn around. Lia disappears from sight and I relax. Slowly she comes back into view and I smile at her.

"Couldn't sleep either?" She asks and I shake my head.

"Not without nightmares." I admitted and she nodded her head.

"Were you scared?" She asks suddenly and I blink, confused.

"Scared of what?" I ask carefully.

"When you helped us way back then, in the woods." She said and I nodded.

"I had talked to Jaclyn that night. I had left before anyone else woke up and was following a trail when I came across the guards. I ran back there to warn you all, I had never expected to go on a journey with you all." I tell her and a small smile tugs at the corners of her mouth.

"Well, thank you anyways." She says and I nod. Silence washes over us and I sit back down next to Jason. After an unsure moment she sits next to me and stares into the fire.

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like to die?" I ask curiously and she gives me a questioning look.

"No." She says and I nod.

"I do. I think it will be like when you're tired and fall asleep." I say and she shrugs.

"There's bad ways to die. Like on the battlefield and the searchers don't find you in time." She says and I nod.

"It's weird. He was a soldier and he might die from a bear attack." I say bitterly and she puts a hand on my shoulder. 

"It'll be alright." She says firmly and I raise my eyes to look at her. I wanted to believe that but it was hard when you faced losing a friend when you tried all you could to save them.

"What if-" She shakes her head and a spark lights her eyes up.

"No. It will be alright." She repeats and I set my jaw. I nod and she turns back to the fire. I look away from her and decide to study the floor. Shadows flicker over the wood and around the room and I watch them as the dance on the walls.

"Fire is a beautiful thing." I murmur and she casts a questioning glance in my direction.

"What makes you say that?" She asks and I gesture about the room.

"It makes you feel safe, fire. It can burn down a village but it makes us warm and safe. It can level forests, but yet we make them in our homes. It can kill us but yet we feed them logs to keep burning." I say quietly and she looks around the room. Our shadows dance on the wall and she lifts her hand up. Her shadow copies her and our eyes meet.