You buried that curiosity as you continued past the field that the toolshed was sat within, knowing that you had plenty of time to poke around such things later, that you could see if it had been cleaned up after the night you had spent there or not. For the time being you had other things to worry about, things that were less frivolous than this fleeting fancy to go and gawk at the interior of a dilapidated shed. No, you had to meet up with Oak, make sure that nobody had done anything stupid in an effort to rescue you, make sure that the people who had been first to truly accept you knew that you were still alive.
Anne huffed as she slipped from beneath your arm, letting go of your hand as she hopped up onto one of the dry walls lining the fields, once or twice stumbling on the uneven surface as she walked along beside you. Elevated as she was you could see the sun catch her hair as you glanced at her, one hand over your eyes as you blocked out the majority of the light that shone into your eyes.
Golden brown wheat behind the stone walls lining the field, An almost clear blue sky with nothing more than wisp like formations of clouds and a firey haired woman almost dancing atop the wall. It was like a scene from a painting come to life, a moment both carefree and alive, a moment of innocent beauty in what you were enraptured.
Anne had noticed your reverie, prompting her to smile slightly as she wagged a finger at you. "It's impolite to stare," came her words as she hopped down from the wall again, once more slipping beneath your arm as she took the position she had left moments prior. "Not that it should suprise me, with how strange and hopeless a man you are."
You shook your head slightly in response to this, wondering if she would believe you if you were to try and put into words that what had distracted you about that moment. It was probably not worth the effort, for you knew that she would no doubt make some dig about your preferences and imply that you preferred men once again. You wondered why humans put such an emphasis on such shallow relationships, why they were so obsessed with such details as those.
Humans.
You wondered what had prompted that slip of thought.
Maybe this member of the Enlightened required enlightenment.
"You don't see the same world I see, it seems," you sighed, shaking your head once more as you uttered those words, as you guestured out over the fields with your free hand. "Tell me when you look out there, what do you see?"
"I see crops, and foul smelling farm animals. What do you see?"
"I see an ocean of golden brown framed by the stone walls, with waves rippling through it at the slightest breeze, I see a sky of brilliant blue with thin smears of white bleeding through to the blue behind it. I see a child like woman with firey hair, like something from a masters work who danced against a backdrop of golden brown and blue. I see a world of beauty and wonder, and I pity you for not being able to perceive the world in the same manner that I do."
Anne turned her gaze from you, falling silent as she gazed out over the landscape, as she looked up at the sky, as she tried to see that same world that you had described. A long moment passed before she finally admitted defeat, before she looked up at you from her position beneath your arm. "Why do you see me as child like?"
You laughed softly.
"You're impulsive and almost innocent in a way, you act on whims, walk on walls and run ahead of me. We're alike in a sense, with you acting like this is all new to you again, with me seeing the worlds beauty as if it's new to me again every day. I'm starting to feel old though, I'm starting to feel my age as memories seep through the cracks. I'm both a young man, a thousand years old and timeless at the same time."
"You're weird, that's what you are," Anne's statement was followed by a slight giggle and a brief moment of silence as she struggled to find words to express herself. "You make me feel safe, like everything'll be okay despite this though. It's like, no matter how crazy the world gets, somehow I know that you'll make everything okay."
You gave Anne's hands a soft squeeze, acknowledging that you at least understood what she meant, though you didn't have the heart to tell her that you were uncertain right now. You couldn't take away what little reassurance she had in you, you couldn't be that cruel. You were striving to be that person that she wanted you to be, though it was for your own reasons. You were fighting to recover your sense of self, for yourself.
You walked in silence up the pathway leading towards Oak's home, farm hands glancing up at you from the duties that they laboured over. A familiar figure sat outside the house, whittling away at a piece of wood with a knife, a figure who paused as they saw you, a figure who dropped the knife in shock, springing to their feet as they sent wood chippings spraying from their lap.
Oak rushed to the gate that lead into the small garden that sat outside his home, meeting you at it with an astonished look on his face. You couldn't tell if it was because you hadn't been seen for a while, because the news of your capture had reached him, or if it was because you had approached with a woman accompanying you. You were almost willing to bet it was the latter, that he was shocked as everyone else seemed to be that you were accompanied by a woman.
"Eurochkoles, is tha' really ye?"
"It is indeed, friend."
"I thought ye were dead. Ye got married though, so ye're as good as it. 'ow 'ave things been f'ye though?"
You didn't need to look to know that Anne was giving him a dirty look, a look that he seemed to be completely unphazed by. How were you going to handle this moment though?
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Topic: They told me I could be anything... (Read 79073 times)