Book 2 Season's Change Spring's Revenge

Part 19 Sleeping Arrangements

He had achieved reverie. He could slip into it on demand, but it was far from easy and it didn't work quite as well for him as it did for Katana. It still required him to rest for many hours for him to recover the energy he spent the day before. He continued to struggle with it as he and Katana left their cave. It was odd to him to not be in their cave and not return to its safety before darkness fell over the land. He had gotten comfortable there. Accustomed to their day-to-day activities. Outside of their cave, there was no training. No practice. It was do or die. Not that their safety was assured in their cave, but it was far safer than being out in the open even if they were in the trees. There was still a very real threat of danger. It was all so different to him. They were different with each other as they were not forced into contact by their quarters. Their contact out in the open was completely voluntary and happened frequently. They took meals together, spoke mostly over those breaks in movement. They took reverie in the same tree but rarely at the same time. That was a far cry from their sleeping arrangements in their cave. In their cave, they often slept within inches of each other, on opposite sides of the fire or on very rare occasions in each other's arms. They tried sleeping in separate chambers but gave up after he woke on several mornings to find Katana sitting on the other side of his firepit watching him sleep. It was just easier to stay together.

Out under the trees, he felt a little lost and a lot out of sorts being out under the canopy instead of under the heavy stone of their cave. It was all unfamiliar to him. The forest they traveled through was a very stark contrast to the cold open rocky plains and shores he grew up on. Everything was lush and green. The trees were large and strong. He'd never seen trees so big and tall. Tall, yes. Big not so much. The growing season up north must be very different from the lands south of the mountains. Trees just did not get that big where he came from. Back home, he could wrap his arms around the trees. All except the large one at the center of the castle gardens. He and his friend couldn't touch fingers if they both wrapped their arms around the tree. But the tree he was traveling through was several times that size. He was certain that it would take three or four people to wrap their arms around most of the trees in that forest. He and Katana were able to continue their travel on the lowest branches of the trees. They were thick and heavy and still high above the forest floor.

It was very difficult for Avriel to get his bearings under the dense canopy. He found the world above the ground but below the canopy disorienting. It wasn't disquieting or uncomfortable. He felt oddly welcomed among the trees; comfortable like he was at home. But he couldn't always tell which way he was going, and he had to know. So, on occasion, he would climb up into the boughs to the very top and through the canopy of a tree to gain them. He could see every horizon from up there. The mountains to the north that was his home, the east, west, and south too. He could not see the end of the trees to the south the canopy was spread out over the land like an endless track of sea, a blanket covering the land, broken only in the north by the mountains so tall they seemed to scrape the sky.

The sunlight was often very harsh on his eyes as they had grown accustomed to life in the dimness of the caves and under the canopy. Eventually, they would adjust to it. The sun felt good upon his skin. He held on to the tree he stood in and relaxed his body and mind. He should have been frightened. He was countless feet above the forest floor. The fall would kill him if he fell.

He heard the soft sound of Katana's ascent through the tree as she joined him. She covered her eyes to block the brightness of the sun's light and hissed then growled. Her soft little growl shocked and amused him. It seemed he was wearing off on her. "Now I know why you follow the Goddess of the Moon." He chuckled as he watched Katana's pretty face. He just looked at her like it was the first time he was seeing her. Her hair and her skin glowed in the sunlight. It was indeed the first time he ever saw her in the sun. He closed his eyes and his mind. By the Goddess, she was beautiful to him. His chuckle was light and warm. "Does the light hurt your eyes badly?"