Inside the Circle
Mist
Chapter 6-Clearing the Mist
Later, sitting on the shore, he had to smile. She was right. Giving way to the senses can open a path to inner quiet. It was the quiet that made choices more clear. He breathed deeply. The air was clean. He felt peaceful as he sat, shivering slightly in the first rays of the sun. The solace was broken only by the occasional wanderings of the wildlife around him, and the sharp snapping of teeth on bone from Timber, who lay several paces away, methodically dismantling and disposing of a duck carcass.
When Timber rose abruptly to grab his breakfast in his jaws with a soft growl and trot quickly into the undergrowth, Snake-Eyes tilted his ear towards the path to the cabin in anticipation. Presently he could hear her soft steps approaching.
The quilt she dropped over his shoulders was still warm from her body heat. He nodded up at her, tucking the edges around him. She sat next to him, crouching close, dressed in a pair of sweats and his black fatigue shirt, the sleeves pulled down over her hands for warmth. The bruise on her face was all but gone this morning. Shifting to free one arm, he pulled her to him and bury his nose in the chaos of her uncombed hair. She yawned pleasantly, signing a good morning to him simultaneously as she stared sleepily out over the water catching the growing light as it rippled across the surface. He smiled into her hair. She made him feel normal.
Normal.
This is why she was here. This is why he brought her with him in spite of all good sense. She reminded him of what it was like to be a real man. Not a soldier, not a shadow, not a loner. Not a bad luck roll of the dice to all who got to close or crossed his purpose. How about just being a normal man for a change?
He shivered. Would he fail her? God, he hoped not. The tiny voice in the back of his skull rose again-Leave her before you get her killed too. He closed his eyes, his grip tightening before he realized it. He pressed the nerve deadened side of his cheek against her hair until the weight triggered phantom pain along his jaw.
He would not fail her. He hadn’t yet. She pushed against him, and he drew back. She’d caught his tension and eyed him shrewdly. “What?” She said.
He was going to let himself take what she offered, because he needed it. He needed it so badly it twisted him inside…
“What…?” She said again after a pause, frowning. And he was going to use it to take away all his doubts, and fears of Fate. He would….
“Wh….?”
He pulled her close and kissed her hard and decisively. She squeaked, her hand caught between them, but he didn’t release her until they both had to come up for air, and he’d calmed himself once more.
“whuh...” She said again, slightly dazed.
“I’m hungry.” He signed. “Let’s go eat.”
She let out a slow sigh, her eyebrow rising with her smile. “Breakfast, huh?”
He stood up, the quilt draping his shoulders loosely. He grinned as her gaze dropped southward automatically. “Yeah.” He said, his hand catching her attention. “Just like that.” And then, feeling lighter, he led her up the path towards the cabin.