The stream must flow
The wind must blow
Even the sun can go
Such as the deer knows to call his lover
Why are you still here
Why are you taciturn
I go to find the beauty
Following the sun from the East to the West
Coming after the moon like the day to the night
With the stream since it is full until it is dry
Follow the muntjac from his youth to his old age
But I still can’t meet my darling
Still can’t see the one I miss
My hair is profuse as the flower season
My heart is full of ardency like the color of a peach
Where are you now?
Oh my darling, oh the one I’m waiting for
If in this incarnation you don’t come
I will wait my whole next life
However, wherever existence is understood
It only becomes dangerous inside human beings.
“Come on, Kyle. It is your sixteenth birthday!” Ryan shouted, making him cringe. “Let’s celebrate!”
“Let’s go to the tavern!” Seth added. “You’re now old enough to go for the first time!”
It
was going to be Seth’s first time too, but he wouldn’t say it aloud, of
course. Between the two friends, they grabbed Kyle by the arms and
pulled him towards Flemeth’s Broomstick. Kyle could do nothing to avoid
it. Not that he wanted to, anyway. After his mother left him alone, four
years ago, Ryan was the only thing he had remotely similar to an elder
brother, and well… the tavern sounded like something exciting to do to
celebrate a birthday.
At
first the crowded place surprised him a bit. He was not used to the
smell, the noises, the fuss… But Ryan guided them to a quieter corner
where he had reserved a table, and they sat there until a beautiful
waitress asked them what they wanted. Ryan noticed how Kyle didn’t take
his eyes away from the girl when she went back to the counter to take
their ales and smiled. It seemed a good start. The girl was more or less
Kyle’s age and she seemed to appreciate his young friend’s charms.
Maybe this would be a birthday to remember.
And indeed it was.
After
asking for their third round of ale, the pretty girl returned to the
counter, and when passing by one of the tables, one of the men tried to
slap her bottom. She was agile and dodged fast, but at that moment, Kyle
had already drunk too much and he couldn’t resist. He got up and walked
calmly towards the table.
“You should apologize to the lady” he said to the man. He looked at Kyle and smiled with teeth black because of the scurvy.
“Hey,
hey, hey, white knight”, he laughed. “It’s been two months without
seeing a girl, I like to test the goodies!”. His breath smelled like
rum, and his companions didn’t seem more sober either. Not that Kyle
himself was in a better situation, though.
“She’s not merchandise to be tested!” Kyle spat. “If you want to… touch her rear, it must be with her permission!”
The
waitress had stopped and was watching the scene interested, but when
she saw the expressions of the sailors at the table she whispered. “It’s
all right, big boy… He didn’t touch me, I can deal with…” suddenly she
stopped and pointed down. “Beware! He’s got a knife!”
The
sailor was trying to reach a dagger in his belt, and if the girl had
not warned Kyle, he would probably had unsheathed it, but thanks to her
shout, Kyle moved quickly and hit his arm, so the knife fell to the
ground. Almost without thinking, he punched the sailor’s face, making
him fall backwards into his friends’ arms.
Before
Ryan or Seth could intervene to prevent it, Kyle was already involved
in a fight with the three sailors. Fortunately, nobody used knives
anymore, but when Kyle’s friends arrived and managed to pull the furious
men away, he was already laying, unconscious, over the remainings of
what once had been a not-so-sturdy tavern wooden table.
The
other customers at the tavern calmed the sailors down, and Sophia, the
owner, invited them to an extra round of ale to appease them. And when
Kyle opened his eyes, head spinning both for the hits and the excess of
alcohol, and back aching amongst the wooden splinters, the very first
thing he saw was a pair of beautiful sapphire blue eyes looking
concerned at him.
He
tried to say something comprehensible, but only a groan got out his
throat, and soon Ryan and Seth got into his vision field and helped him
to get up and to walk out of the tavern. Kyle kept looking over his
shoulder to have another glimpse of that heavenly beautiful face, but
she was already bending down to check the wreckage he had left behind,
and he sighed. Seems she was more concerned about the table than about
him.
After
that incident, Kyle got a sudden interest on hanging around the
Flemeth’s Broomstick tavern. Well, not exactly the tavern, but that
pretty girl who caused it. Lindy, was her name, and she had just been
hired by Sophia some weeks ago. Ryan had to admit, though, that Kyle had
good taste. She was quite a beauty. Arrived from Nevarra some years ago
with her mother, young, pretty, silky dark hair and big innocent blue
eyes… and a smile which sometimes said she wasn’t as innocent as she
looked like.
So
there they were again, sharing a drink as if nothing happened, while
Kyle spent the time staring at the pretty girl, still with a black eye
because of the recent fight.
Ryan pushed up his friend’s jaws to close his mouth.
“You’re drooling too much, Kyle. Go ahead and ask her for a date!”
“Wha… what?” Kyle stammered. “Who? Lindy?”
“Who else? Not Ralph the cook, that’s sure!”, Ryan laughed. Seth chuckled into his jar of ale.
“If
you don’t do it, maybe I will” he took part in the conversation.
“Before the competence gets a move on”. He pointed at a blonde guy who
was trying to charm the pretty girl when she arrived with a jar of wine
to his table. Lindy shook her head at whatever he whispered to her with a
reproving smile and danced to another table.
“The
beauty won this round” joked Ryan. “But Ivan is not the kind of dude
who surrenders easily”. He got up to call the girls attention. “Here! We
need another round of ales!”
Kyle suddenly awoke and pulled Ryan’s sleeve. “What are you doing?” he asked, panicked.
“Helping you, silly one. It is clear you’re not going to be the one to talk first, so let’s bring her to this table”
Kyle
was going to reply, but Lindy was a fast, dedicated waitress, and
before he could articulate a word, she was already there, bright smile
creating cute wrinkles around her eyes. Kyle just opened and closed his
mouth like a fish out of the water.
“Ale for all of you, messires?”
Ryan chuckled. “I think our friend here needs something stronger”, he said elbowing Kyle.
“Oh… ah… rum” Kyle stammered.
“And he pays!” added Seth
“Two
ales and one shot of rum, then”. Lindy nodded and walked away with a
graceful swing of her hips. Kyle collapsed in his chair.
“I hate both of you” he sighed. Ryan shook his head.
“No, you love us. And you’ll love us even more when she surrenders to your charms”
Kyle tried to kill Ryan with his glare, but it didn’t work.
Some
minutes later, the pretty girl arrived with two big jars of ale and a
small shot of rum. She put the jars on the table, but handed the tiny
glass directly to Kyle’s hand, and when doing so, her fingers softly
touched his. Kyle blushed red up to his ears and she giggled like a
tinker bell, winked and went away.
Kyle drank his shot of rum in one single sip, almost choking.
Their
teenage love ritual continued some weeks while Kyle continued attending
the tavern with his friends, and Lindy continued working there and
being cute and adorable with all the customers. Unfortunately for poor
Kyle, as Ryan had foretold, Ivan had not surrendered either and he was
as frequent a customer as Kyle used to be. Worst of all, Lindy didn’t
seem to make a difference between any of them, so he never dared to take
a step to avoid spoiling it all. Funny thing, his rival was keeping his
distances too… Both of them stalking the prey, no one wanted to scare
her taking a first step.
Ryan
and Seth looked at each other. Kyle needed an incentive. And maybe… a
bit more intimacy. So next time Ryan reserved again the private Cousland
table at the tavern, told Kyle to meet there… and sneaked away with
Seth to spy him from a second intimate table, watching without shame how
the poor boy looked at the door nervous wondering where their friends
were. To make things worse, Ryan gave a couple of generous tips to Lindy
asking her to go from time to time to Kyle’s table asking him what he
wanted, so his jar was never empty… and he would have to talk to her.
The trap worked. After one hour, the young man was tipsy enough to feel
brave, and the fifth time Lindy arrived to the table and asked him if he
wanted to take anything while waiting for his friends, he gathered
courage, and replied.
“Yes!
You!”. And quickly got up and kissed her cheek. Lindy reacted like
lighting and her hand didn’t look so delicate once it collided hardly
against his face, making him get sitting again, a hand over his own
cheek, a surprised look in his face.
Seth face palmed. “Here goes our last hope to see these two together”
“We
better go and give him some support”, Ryan sighed getting up from their
hideout. “Come on, and look surprised. Remember, the date was now, not
an hour ago”
Seth chuckled. “Don’t worry. I am surprised enough”.
What
Seth and Ryan didn’t know was that that slap didn’t discourage Kyle to
continue attending the tavern. Even more, now that he had had a first
contact (and what a painful one!), he seemed more prone to talk to her.
Maybe it had been Ivan’s muffled giggle when he was slapped, or just the
feeling that well deserved prizes were worth fighting harder. But his
resolution was clear. He had to win that girl’s heart
But this time, he would go alone.
He
didn’t tell his friends he was going. He just entered the tavern, asked
if the Cousland reserved table was free, and since Sophia already knew
he was a friend of the noble, she guided him there. Then he gathered
courage, raised his hand and called Lindy. The girl arrived with a
bright smile, no resentments, it seemed, but the perk of a brow said to
him she was expecting for something.
“I…”
he started, feeling suddenly all his resolution fleeing away, and
taking a breath to catch it again. “I think I owe you an apology”.
“An
apology! What for, my lord, if I can know?” she said, but he could feel
the sarcasm in her tone. He had somehow foreseen it, so he took the
hand he had got in his pocket all this time and softly deposited it over
the table.
“I started the wrong way” he just said. “Will you accept this?”
She frowned a bit looking at him, her nose wrinkling in such a cute way his heart jumped. “Not another unwanted kiss, I hope?”
He
retired his hand. A white flower, a bit withered for having been in his
pocket, but still beautiful and fragrant, stayed on the table.
“No
if it is unwanted” he just said, with a sad smile. Then he looked at
her, waiting for her reaction. She looked at the flower, then at him.
She said nothing, so he, the boy who always had no words, felt forced to
continue. “It… it is for you. My…mother told me these flowers were
called Nevarran Beauties, so… when I saw it I thought…” He scratched his
head, confused. “I’m sorry. I spoiled it all. I shouldn’t have kept it
in my pocket”
She
took the flower, slightly amused. “Nevarran Beauty… True, true. My mom
used to call them like that too”. She put it on her hair, and the flower
didn’t look withered anymore, as if her beauty was contagious. Then she
smiled to him. “Thanks. It brings… sweet memories” and she seemed a bit
sad when she said that. “Now… what do you want to drink?”
“Wine”, he said, suddenly inspired. “Vintage wine”
“Good choice” she said, turning to go.
He
observed her go, relieved and excited at the same time. Finally things
started to go well, he thought. At least this time she had not slapped
him.
Some minutes later she returned with the wine. She had not taken the flower from her hair. Maybe that was a good sign.
“Your friends aren’t coming today?”, she said, when she put the glass in front of him.
“No” he said. “I’ll be alone this evening”.
“No one should drink alone” she said a bit sad.
“Well,
maybe…” He stopped. Too soon. Too rushed. “Maybe one day… not today…
you’ll want to keep me company, so I don’t drink alone?”
She
smiled warmly. “Maybe. One day”. She walked a couple of steps, then
turned her head. “I’m free on Thursdays”. And she went with a wink.
And
he grinned, and drank his wine, which tasted sweet and warm and
comforting. “Then see you next Thursday”, he said almost to himself.
