Walk On Mountains - Chapter Eight

“Packing up already?”1

Yanuia looked up at the person who had spoke and smiled as she took one of the tent spikes out of the ground.  “Yeah.  Want to get it put away with plenty of time left to enjoy the festivities.”2

Grydin nodded.  “Good idea, actually.  Need a hand?”3

“No.”4

He nodded slightly.  Grydin knew she would not accept his help, but he had to ask anyway.   “I was planning on taking the tent in the day before the dark arrived, but I might do it tomorrow.”5

“Lots more time to just relax,” Yanuia said as she pulled up another spike.6

“You are right.”7

“I usually am.”8

“Most times,” Grydin added smoothly, taking a relaxed comfort in the small talk they shared.9

Yanuia worked in silence for a few moments, then looked at him.  “Where is she?”10

“Top of the mountain,” Grydin motioned past her head. “Marienda wanted to watch the dark cover her domes."11

“Then why aren’t you with her?”12

“She wanted to watch it alone.”  He frowned as Yanuia snorted lightly and softly shook her head.  “What now?” he asked tersely.13

Yanuia straightened.  “Don’t use that tone with me, Grydin.”14

“In case you haven’t noticed, you are not my mother,” he said in a low voice.  “So just cut to the point.”15

“Never mind,” she sighed and turned away to finish packing up the tent.16

“I want you to talk with Marienda, without the attitude,” Grydin said.  He held a hand up when she looked at him.  “You seem to have some bad memories about her profession, and you need to get over them.”  He glanced at the ground, then back at her.  “Marienda is in my life, and if you also wish to remain there, you had better find a way to accept her.”17

~~~~~~~~~~18

Marienda watched, transfixed, as the line of darkness seemed to swallow her old home.  The domes came alive with an inner light as illumination was once more turned on for another dark cycle.  She shook her head slightly, amazed that she would probably never set foot inside the domes ever again.  She wasn’t sad that she would not be returning, nor was she happy about it either.  She was just…content.19

Leaning back on the rocky ground, she looked up into the bright sky, trying to pick out little shapes that she could see during the dark times, planets she could be seeing now had she stayed in her old life.  She had no idea if the far off specks contained life, or even if they were distantly related to the people on her planet.  She had often wondered if her people had come from one of the other planets she could barely see, and if so, why had no one ever come to see them or even check on them.  20

While growing up, she had often thought that they might have been alone, the lone survivors of some cosmic cataclysm that had forced her people into domes, and made the rest of the cosmos uninhabitable.  Or, maybe her people had be pioneers who crash-landed on this planet, and no one knew they were here, so no one ever came looking.  She shook her head as she remembered her childhood fantasies, and once again sat up to view the domes for a final goodbye.21

Grydin watched her from a little distance away, not wanting to intrude on her thoughts.  At times he still felt a little nervous around her, like he was unsure what to do or say.  Her initial indecision and Yanuia’s treatment of her played a major part in his sometimes unease, not to mention the discussion he had just had that made him want to walk away from his old friend. 22

He cast a look at his old home, momentarily feeling a longing that he had not experienced in over five years. He sometimes wonder what happened to his parents, how they were, if they were still alive, what they had thought when he had not returned, but he never dwelled on it.  Try as he might though, the thought stuck with him as he sat down on the ground, pulled his leg up and put an arm on his bent knee.23

There was a time when he entertained the idea of secretly returning to the domes to see for himself that things were okay for his parents, but he had talked himself out of the notion.  His hair colour was unique, and he doubted he would have been able to blend in. What if he was spotted, how would he explain where he had been…what if he couldn’t get back to the mountains in time, could he remain inside for eight months, knowing what he knew.  Although he loved his parents, he knew that they had by then come to grips with the fact that he was probably dead, and the daily bouts of guilt he experienced slowly trickled down to the acceptance that he would never see them again.24

At times he would indulge his imagination by wondering what he would be doing had he not left.  The company he had worked for was in demand, and he had been one of their top architects.  By now, he would have most likely formed his own firm, and been living a rich life in one of the penthouse apartments in one of the park districts…the height of decadent success.25

He laughed lightly to himself.  He had made his choice to remain in the mountains and he didn’t think he would change that choice for all the money or power anyone could offer him.  Grydin brought his hand up and leaned his chin against the palm as he stared off into the distance.26

Marienda smiled as she looked away from the domes, and stopped when she turned and saw her mate sitting on a rock some distance from her.  She followed his line of view, noticing that he was staring at his old home.  Although sometimes she could feel his emotions like they were her own, other times like now she was totally in the dark on what he was experiencing.  He had explained that they were connected that way, and in time it would come easier to perceive, but she still found it unnerving at times.27

She approached quietly and realized that he was so deep in thought that she could have stomped up while singing some drinking room song at the top of her lungs and he wouldn’t have noticed.  She walked up behind him, slipping her arms over his shoulders as she sat behind him.  She leaned her head against his back, smiling as he brought his hand down to clasps hers.28

“You okay?” she asked.29

“Yeah,” he whispered.  She could feel him sighing slightly, and waited for him to continue.  She hugged him gently as he remained silent, her soul unbelievably content with the feeling of him in her arms.30

~~~~~~~~~~31

The flap to the tent opened and Grydin walked out, immediately heading up the mountain to the top.  He looked around when he got there, and spotted the shadow on the ground and approached it.32

Something had awakened him from a sleep, something that had not seemed right.  Once waking, it took him a few moments to understand that he was seeing Marienda’s dream, and the images did not please him.  He knew that they were not really a dream, but had been projected there by the woman who appeared in his mind as he shared the dream.  Annoyance that she would send images of the two of them from so long ago had prompted the trip up the mountain. 33

He walked up behind the figure who had cast the shadow and the dream, and waited.34

“You grew your hair,” she said without turning around.35

Grydin resisted the urge to run his hands through his loose hair.   “Stay away from her,” he warned instead.36

“Is she better than me?” she asked, ignoring the threat.37

“She is better than you in every way.”38

“You always knew how to make me feel special.” Sarcasm dripped from her words.39

“Being with you always made me feel empty,” Grydin stated, trying to clamp down on the anger that wanted to surface.40

“Funny, I could say the same thing about you…being with you made me feel empty.”41

He caught the double meaning that she tossed in with that.  “I don’t remember you ever complaining.”  He turned to walk away, but paused.  “Stay far away from her. Keep out of her dreams.”42

The woman’s head raised slightly.  “Her dreams?”43

“Her dreams are my dreams, and mine are hers.  I will know if you interfere.”  He continued around and walked away from her.44

Isiru turned and glared at him, the small stone around her neck glowing softly.  She lifted her hand and flicked her finger towards him, smiling as he stumbled and fell to the ground.45

“Now that was just petty,” he called back as he picked himself up and continued down the path.  46

~~~~~~~~~~47

Grydin slowly opened the tent flap and looked in, relived to see that his mate was still asleep.  He quietly got undressed.48

“Who is she?”  Marienda asked when Grydin slipped back into bed beside her.49

“Who is who?” he asked lamely.50

“The woman from the dream.”51

“She’s nobody.” He kissed her temple. 52

“Do you regret her?”53

Grydin stared at her for a few moments, wondering why she would ask such a question.  “No.”54

She nodded.  Since she had no real concept of relationships beyond the mating ritual, she wasn’t jealous of his past women. “Did you love her?”55

“No.”  That answer came easy for him. “She was a warm body during a very cold time in my life.”  He paused, embarrassed at how cruel that sounded.  “Being with Isiru helped me realize that I didn’t want to be who I was.  With her I was too tempted to follow the same path she was, and although I knew it would destroy me, I couldn’t help myself.”  He leaned back on one elbow and ran his other hand through his long silver hair.  “With her I betrayed everything I had been taught to believe in…” he trailed off and lay down completely.  “She will not bother you again.”56

Marienda lay down beside him and rested her head on his chest.  His hand came up and combed slowly through her hair, spilling it over her shoulder and arm.  “This is all so different,” she whispered.  “I don’t know if I can adjust.”57

His fingers stopped running through her hair and slowly moved down her back until it rested just above her hip.  “It does take some getting use to,” he admitted quietly.  He brought his other hand up and under her chin, gently moving her face so he could see her eyes. Although his logical side was often at odds with the emotional side of him, he was more that willing to follow his feelings on this.  His body needed her, his heart needed her, he needed her.  End of discussion.  “I love you.”58

She bit her lip as they looked at each other.  He was more than she could have ever imagined, and she was scared that the feelings she was developing would end.  She had never been in love, never had someone she told everything to, and had never enjoyed just being in the same room with someone as much as she had with him.59

“I don’t really know what love feels like,” she said, “but I do know that I want to spend eternity with you.”  She rolled so that she was lying on top of his body.  “Preferably like this.”60

He laughed softly as his hands gently grabbed her backside and pulled her even closer. “It would be my honor to accommodate that wish.”61