GOLDEN REBEL HEART

Chapter 13

"So. She's back?"

"She's back."

Their eyes both focus on the woman. Taylor is back. Sanjay knows. Ashawary knows. Everyone knows. Karlie feels like she can breathe again, now that the American is really back. It's been a week and a half since that night, when the leader had held her in her arms. They don't really talk about what had happened, and somehow Karlie believes that Taylor is embarrassed to truly acknowledge the desperate behavior she had shown to the rebel. But, to Karlie's eyes, she seems fine, now. She seems like another person, perhaps more mature and older. Taylor holds her head high, her shoulders are not slouched like they used to, and there is a coldness inside her sapphire eyes that she's never seen. While something had changed in the American, fortunately the relationship between them hadn't, and Karlie was glad. Taylor was still gentle and sweet with her, sometimes goofing around with her just to let her lungs laugh, once in a while. From time to time, she seemed a little distant, gaze lost in the sky and mind elsewhere, and often times she was closed off. With other people, she's polite, never rude, but there's still a subtle coldness underneath her voice that Karlie can't quite explain. Everything about Taylor's behavior screamed that she was building walls around herself, perhaps to protect her from who knows what, and the rebel is helpless, because those walls seem to get higher and higher, instead of crumbling down as the time passes.

"Is she okay, though?"

Karlie sighs. Taylor fires an arrow, and the leader watches her lips form a frown, as she clearly misses the target. The American's hold around the bow tightens, but determined she picks another arrow from the quiver and tries again. "I think so," she replies.

Sanjay watches the other rebels train and better their archery skills. Karlie and him sit a few feet away from all of them, but it is clear as daylight that the leader is here only for Taylor.

"Do you think that she's like this just because of her grandmother's death? Or is there more?"

"Like what?" Karlie furrows her eyebrows, finally focusing on her friend beside her. She watches him as he plays with the grass on the ground, his elbow placed against his right knee.

"You know," Sanjay says, briefly glancing at the blonde woman. "She seems distant. She seems—hesitant. The other day, when we stumbled upon each other back at Banapur, I was in a hurry because, apparently, there were some soldiers of the Royal Army that were holding some civilians as hostages, and I was going there with other men to free them. When I asked her if she wanted to come along and help us, she—," Sanjay halts and harshly sighs. "She hesitated. Then refused to come. Said that she had some things to do." The man looks at her. "Weeks ago she wouldn't have hesitated."

Karlie lowers her head. "We don't—talk about what happened during her permanence in the USA. She always dodges the subject, and I always let her. I don't want to push her, or something,"

There's a glint of amusement in Sanjay's eyes, as he says, "I would be mad at you, but you caring about her is too cute."

The leader furrows her brows. "I—,"

"Don't even object, Karlie. You care about her, and it shows."

Karlie blushes, and accidentally glances at the American. When she notices that Taylor is staring back at her, the color in her cheeks turns into a deep scarlet red, and she immediately averts her gaze. "You know that I will never make a move. Neither of us will."

Sanjay frowns. "Yeah, too bad," the man ponders for a moment. "She seems like a good kisser."

"Sanjay," the other rebel chuckles incredulously. "Stop,"