Reborn

17 - Essence of Time

Wiping sweat off of her brow, she swung the sickle and sliced off some more stalks of wheat. Pausing, she then untied her water satchel from her belt, pulled out the cork, and took a long swig. Lowering the satchel, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and then offered it to her partner.

"No thanks," he declined as he tied up the remaining bundles of wheat. Shrugging, she pushed the cork back in with the heel of her palm and then looped the handle around her belt and tied it off so that it hung there securely.

"Here, let me help you, luv," she offered and began tying up a bundle. They continued working together in companionable silence. Finishing tying off the last bundle, she stretched her neck, and looked up at the sky. Judging by the position of the sun, it was about the fourteenth hour of the day. "We better get moving," she instructed.

He looked up at the sun. "Yep. Reckon we got enough here anyway," he agreed as they begin lifting the bundles of wheat into their cart. After they finish, she walked around to the front of the cart and climbed into the front seat. He climbed in next to, and flicked the horses' harness, and they begin trotting toward town. She reached up behind her and pulled her dark brown cowl with golden edges and a button collar back over her head.

"How much do you think we'll get for this?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Enough to get through until next harvest, I'll wager," was his reply. "But that's life."

A wistful smile tugged at her lips, though he couldn't see it as her face was largely shrouded in shadows from her cowl. "I wonder what life was like before we came here?" she thought out loud.

There was utter silence from beside her. Then a low and warning, "Don't."

"Why?" she asked, turning her head to look at him. His knuckles were white as he suddenly clenched the horses' reigns. "Don't you want to know? To remember?"

"Well, we won't," he snapped. "We never have over the years and we never will. So let it go."

Her lips pressed themselves tightly together and she focused on the road ahead, refusing to look at him. Her mind took her back to when they both woke up on the shore of the island. Soaking wet, in each others arms, neither of them remembered anything from before. The only hint of their past was the clothes they wore - she wore a forest green dress with puffed sleeves and laced at the front with intricately designed metal leaves on her dress with a green emerald pinned onto her neck, on her vambraces, on the front of her belt and on her tassets, which also had little intricate arrow heads dangling from the tassets. He wore a dark blue velvet doublet, a white billowy, long-sleeved shirt, a black belt, dark brown pants, and a pair of boots. Her shoes were missing.

We must have been wealthy. Maybe members of a royal court. Or maybe we were tailors, which is quite probable considering the fact that we both knew instantly what those pieces of clothes we were wearing were called.

But he didn't want to know. Not after years of waiting and hoping and finally...nothing. She could tell it affected him not knowing who he was, but he refused to even talk about Before, even making up names for themselves - she called herself Asphale and he called himself Wolve.

But he thinks about it all the time. I can tell.

Something - no, someone - appeared through the sunny haze up ahead, standing stock-still in the middle of the road.

Eh?

"Whoa," Wolve sub-vocalized, pulling on the reigns discreetly, slowing down until they finally came to a stop a few metres from the person. Judging by the figure, the person was a female. She was tall and her hair was a dark brown. Her skin was dirty and sweaty and she had no hood to cover her head. She wore a pair of pants, boots, and wore a brown tunic cinched at the waist with a belt and a cowl over her shoulders. She was also wearing a quiver full of arrows over her left shoulder along with a long bow. She gave them a sweet smile.

Suddenly, the air, the trees, the wheat, the earth itself seemed to shiver and ripple around them. Asphale gripped the cart tightly as a wave of nausea hit her. Trying not to vomit, she focused on the woman before them. Her arms were now outstretched and her eyes closed, face raised to the sun.

Then they seemed to spin around in circles faster and faster. It was day. Then night. Time seemed to speed past them. They saw winter. Then in an instant, it vanished and was replaced with autumn.

Finally, there was a bright flash of light...

...and Asphale passed out.

~

The female lowered her arms and face, opening her eyes. The world instantly slowed down to it's normal spinning speed and time reverted back to the actual present. She felt a presence behind her. It.

"Well done, Phoenix," It completed. "Now, let's bring them back, shall we?"