Jack Simple

Chapter 6

In his dream, Eidna glowed. Every inch of her was alive with a pure and brilliant light, as if she were an elfin queen. She knelt amidst dark, hungry shadows. Her hands were clasped together as if in prayer or pleading. The shadows sought an opening, a chink in her radiant armor, a place to worm themselves in and work their corruption. Her light began to wane as Jack watched, and the shadows were exultant. He could do nothing...

Jack awoke with a start. The first light of dawn was blushing the sky. Eidna and Lightfoot remained asleep. Jack looked at the herb bundles; they did not appear as if they had been disturbed from the previous night. Good. Jack stirred the coals of the fire to utilize the last bit of warmth from them. The birds began to greet the morning with a chorus of song, and that is what finally woke Eidna. She sat up, leaning on one hand, looking disoriented.

"Morning already?" she inquired, looking about.

"Aye," Jack answered simply. They ate a short breakfast. They did not discuss the previous night. They did not discuss anything, in fact. Jack had more things he wanted to say to her, to somehow dissuade her from sacrificing her dignity, but he held his speech. For now.

Silently, they broke camp.

They hiked slowly. All of the energy and determination that Eidna had previously shown had seeped away, as if her sails had lost their wind. It hurt Jack to witness her despair. Near midday they halted and refilled their skins at a rivulet that streamed cold down a black rock at the foot of Elid Peak. Jack decided that it was time to break his silence.

"Eidna, I think that—"

"Stop, Jack." Eidna interjected. "Please don't make it more difficult. I should never have told you any of this. I took leave of my senses when I kissed you last night. Please try to forget it. Try to forget me."

"I can't do that, Eidna!" Jack shouted, tears of frustration welling up. He wished he could grab her and shake her to her senses. He wanted to profess his love for her and beg her to flee with him into the wild, to leave Brecht and this knotted situation behind them.

Eidna looked at him and his tears. "No matter what I do, I hurt someone," she sighed. "I think I can find my way back from here, Jack. Why don't you go on ahead? Thank you for guiding me. I beg you once again: please forget everything I told you. It is nothing you need to be involved in. I don't think we should speak again."

"Eidna..."

"Goodbye, Jack," Eidna said with finality. She turned away from him, looking out into the wood. Jack watched her back, saw her shoulders moving in silent sobs, and cursed himself for the biggest fool he knew.

"Come on, Lightfoot," Jack commanded. "Let's be off." He set off down the trail, angry at her for her dismissal, angry at himself for accepting it. Lightfoot hesitated a moment, whined, looked at Eidna and then at Jack. Finally, the dog came to heel. Within two turns of the trail she was out of sight.

"I am The Weeper indeed," Jack said to Lightfoot. And you will never glimpse Mirahl again, Jack said to Jack. Are you ready to accept that?

Jack decided that he was not.

He pushed his endurance hard, hiking well into the night before his cottage came into sight. His plan, so hastily begun the night before, was beginning to solidify in his mind. Making a plea to Eidna's father would be fruitless, and would only make things more uncomfortable for her. He had tossed that possibility out only a few moments after initially considering it. He would have to talk to the Mayor directly, and the only way someone like the Mayor would grant an audience to someone like Jack was if he had something to gain from it.