The Arcana

You can Run

        I awoke to the morning rays filtering through the canopy and I sat up with a groan on my lips. My back hurt immensly from laying on the hard ground but I wouldn't complain to Joshua about it. I looked over to where he still lay asleep and rolled my eyes. I grabbed my bag and decided to look for a spring to wash up before we left. As I trampled through the forrest I couldn't help to have my mind wander to Death and last night's dream. 

        It felt so real and I wondered if he was really there or if I made it all up in my head. I stopped in my tracks as I listened for the sound of running water. It sounded close off to the west so I kept up my pace until the trees broke off into a clearing with a little river that sat transeversal from the other side. There seemed to be nobody around and all was calm so I qickly began undressing and hung up my clothes on a nearby tree branch. I stepped into the clear water and found it to be mildly cold, shivering I submerged myself and satyed under for as long as I dared. Resurficing I began swimming around to keep the cold away. I thought about how I felt aboutloving Death and laughed a little at the irony. I caught myself thinking how lonely he must feel at never being able to touch another living being.

        I tried thinking back to all that I knew of him and his Arcanian powers. He was able to command that beast, the Devil, so he must be very powerful. I wondered if his touch could kill any of the other Arcana but by the way he talked it seemed more unlikely, which only seemed to make me feel more sorry for him. I heaved a heavy sigh as I swam back to shore to get dressed. Thinking about Death only made my head hurt and make less sense of everything.Totally unaware as I stepped on to the shore I gasped as I heard a man nervously clear his throat and step out of the tree line.

        Joshua kept his head turned around as he hesitantly stepped forward. "I am s-s-so sorry! I had no idea you w-w-ere um busy and I saw you left and I just came looking for you um and um um. I'm so sorry." He barely said the last part as it came out in a whisper. I could see his face had turned bright red as I struggled to get something to cover my completely nude state. Finely I just stopped and started walking over to where my clothes were, which just so happened to be next to Josh.

        "Oh um I guess its fine if you just turn around I really need to get to that branch over there with my clothes. So if you could be just so kind as to..." He obediantly turned his back and took a few steps away so that he could leave me to my some what privacy. I was starting to wonder if he had done this on purpose, but surely he wouldn't I thought to myself. But I was increasingly becoming aware that I wasn't the best at picking men.

        I hurriedly started putting on my clothes and after I gave him a little nudge he turned around. Even fully clothed I noticed that Josh couldn't seem to look me in the eye out of embarrassment. If he was pretending, then he must be very good at it. I decided to put it behind me and move on, "Hey lets go back to camp I'm getting kind of hungry and we need to move out before those soldiers catch wind of where we're staying." He nodded his assent but still wouldn't look me in the eye. I didn't really mind what happened because Josh seemed to be embarressed about the whole thing and I thought his reactions were a little cute.

        We walked in silence for awhile until we reached camp. We wordlessly packed up our things and saddled our horses as we made our way to the next city over. We decided to keep to the side of the worn road so as not to be seen by any men or soldiers. Finally I decided to be the one to break the awkward silence. So taking on a light tone I started kicking up my spirits in order to cheer Josh up a little bit.

        "Hey Josh so where are you from anyways? I mean if we are going to be travelling together we should at least get to know each other first!" I smiled wide as I saw that he was so obviously relieved that I was choosing to forget about our little incident. Following my lead he began acting in better spirits and aswering in a gay voice.