Perception

LVII

They'd been driving for hours and hours and the first wisps of the coming sunset were already in the sky. But they still had about fifty kilometres to go. To be honest, Anna was getting pretty fed up with this whole driving thing, but there was no way she was about to say that to the lovely boy beside her who had so graciously come with her on an impromptu drive through Northern Europe, now was she? She had driven the first three hundred kilometres through France herself, with Eli dozing a bit beside her, and somehow she hadn't minded it at all. Especially on the Péage, where the road was wide, well maintained and pretty empty.
"What will we do once we get there?" she asked Eli. "Find a camp site?"
He nodded. "Sounds good. And get some food. I'm starving."
She grinned. She had been simply ignoring her protesting stomach, but he was right. Food would be good.
"Which turn off was it again?" he asked.
"Twenty three. I just saw nineteen. We're getting there."

We're getting there.

The words floated around her brain. Getting where, exactly? And what was going to happen once they did get to this place that she knew absolutely nothing about? She guessed they'd have to look for a white cabin surrounded by sunflowers, somehow?
She closed her eyes tight and willed it with all the power she had.
Please, voice. Let us find it. Please let us be okay. Please, just make everything be okay.
As she whispered the words in her mind she felt it again, she felt that faint feeling of the feathers holding her safe, just there. She reached into the bag that was on top of the handbrake handle between them and stroked the soft wood of the box the beads lived in softly, breathing in their peace. Then she looked up and saw the word on the motorway sign at the same time Eli did.
"Veigné!" she called.
"Almost there." he smiled.

It was a relief to leave the motorway behind and drive over the quaintest of country lanes imaginable. The road meandered past a smallish hill and the view over the fields was already fantastic from where they were.
"Wow. It'd been a while since I'd seen a hill." Eli remarked, and Anna laughed.
"Yeah. Not many hills in the Netherlands, hey?"
He was distracted, suddenly, and he seemed to look at something outside the car.
"You okay?"
"Oh yeah." he said, his face deadpan. "I was just watching the butterfly flutter by."
And she just couldn't help herself; she burst out laughing.
"I thought you didn't do cheesy?" she hiccuped.
He turned slightly so he could grin at her. "I may have lied. I do do cheesy sometimes."

They saw the sign saying 'camping' simultaneously and Anna's well-organised heart flooded with relief the second they turned onto the terrain and were told they could camp here. Eli started the car again and slowly drove onto the site.
There was a big round field in the middle of the campsite where some small tents were spread out in little groups. A narrow lane wound around the field and on the outside there were spacious camping spaces. There was a river running right by the campsite. Anna suddenly found herself hoping they might find the time to swim in it. It was still plenty warm here, in September, after all.
Eli stopped in front of an empty space and turned the car into it.
"Right! Home sweet home!" he said as he got out and stretched his legs.
Anna got out too and she looked around her. Really, it was very, very picturesque. It was the kind of place she really wouldn't mind holidaying at all. And now she was actually here, suddenly, with Eli, and as she looked at the yellow bag on the back seat the realisation sank in, wordlessly but with great emphasis, that she would actually be sharing a tent with him tonight.
She couldn't quite bring herself to stop the little flutter her heart made at that thought, and she was smiling as she opened the door and took out that yellow bag.