“That Rana…” the man sighed, his shoulders drooping in exhaustion. “…is quite the character…” Clarine giggled cheerfully in response.
“I like her.” She said lightly. “At first, I thought she was really loud, and scary too.” She turned to her left, watching his weary face. “But…I think Rana is a good person.” She finished simply, a small smile etched on her face.
“You think so too?” he replied with a small grin of his own. “Still,” he sighed yet again. “Just talking to her really wears me out…”
“Mmmmhh…” Clarine mumbled to herself, thinking.
“What is it?” the man asked.
“Ah-, it’s nothing!” She said quickly, shaking her head side to side quickly.
”…if you say so.” He replied skeptically. “Well, then, shall we go, Clarine? Back to the forest, where it all began…And where we’ll start anew.” She nodded in response, grabbing hold of his hand in her own, and the two began the start of their trek through the woods, stepping carefully over the roots of the trees on the very edge.
“Ah, we’re finally back,” he breathed out with a sigh of relief as he lowered his burden to the ground. “I’m glad that we didn’t run into any of the other Mamono.” After several minutes of walking, the two had finally returned to the clearing in the forest, the pot sitting right where they had left it. The two sat down on the forest floor, taking a moment to catch their breath and eat some of the fruit remained from the ones that Clarine had gathered the day before. Although now she didn’t refuse to eat the fruit without his prompting, she still loved it best when he fed her directly, the way he first had almost a year ago.
“Mmnnfhh,” she mumbled as he pressed his mouth against hers, slipping her another piece of fruit, its juice and her saliva running down the side of her mouth. Her tongue wrestled his for a few moments before he withdrew, in order to allow her to finish chewing the fruit and swallow it. With an audible gulp, the pulpy mess slid down her throat. “Annh,” she said, opening her mouth wide.
“More?” the man asked with a grin. “You’re so spoiled, Clarine.” he teased. This time he took a large bite, leaving a gaping hole in the flesh of the rotund fruit. Its flesh was firmer than the fruit before, so he broke it into several pieces with his teeth before grinding it into a more pulpy form. Lifting her chin with his hand, he slipped his mouth over hers once more, slowly slipping her only one of the pieces of fruit in his mouth. Her tongue eagerly invaded his mouth as he did, searching for the rest of the fruit. He moved them side to side with his own tongue, making her search thoroughly before allowing her to find them.. He withdrew once she retrieved every last piece from his mouth. She chewed each piece quickly, and then swallowed them, one at a time.
“You’re so cruel,” she pretended to pout, “to tease your wife like that.” Even though she was to pretending to be hurt, she couldn’t help the smile that began to creep onto her face. She tried to hide it by turning her head to the side, but he saw through it anyways.
“I’m sorry, Clarine” he said, playing along. “I promise to make it up to you, so don’t be mad at me, okay?” He grinned, and pecked her lightly on the cheek. She looked back at him, the smile on her face as obvious as day. “It’s a promise, then!” she said teasingly, her eyes suggesting many, pleasant things.
The man grinned, and rose to his feet, holding out his hand out to her. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. “Well then, we’ve got a lot of work to do, shall we get started?” He asked, glancing at his wife. She nodded, adding “Let’s make our home, together.”
He smiled. “Yes…” he looked around the clearing, motioning towards its entirety with his arm. “The place where it all began. A place just for us.” He brought his arm around her shoulder, squeezing lightly before letting go. Reaching for the pack full of supplies, he rummaged around, pulling out a leather-bound book, and a long skinny stick with a sharp, curved metal point at the end. Handing the book to Clarine, who promptly opened it to the first few pages, he took the stick in hand and began to walk, dragging it along behind him. The sharp metal end sliced into the earth, carving a straight line behind him as he walked. After walking several paces, Clarine looked up and called out to him. “Ah, the book says that’s far enough, dear!” With a wave to mean that he heard her, he changed directions, and began to walk with the stick still carving into the earth behind him. After walking the same amount of distance, she called out to him again. Changing his direction a second time, walking back towards Clarine. Now parallel with the point at which he started, he walked towards it, connecting the two points with yet another line. Once the two points were connected, he lifted the stick into the air and over his shoulder as walked back to stand next to Clarine, and together the two surveyed his handiwork.
The end result was a large square carved into the earth that marked the center of the forest clearing.
“How does it look?” He asked Clarine, who quickly consulted the book in her hands. She looked up at the carved earth, and then down at the diagrams drawn on the pages she had the book opened to again..
“The boundary lines look perfect.” She replied with a smile.
He grinned in response. “That was the easy part, marking where our house shall be.” He slouched his shoulders a little. “Building it, however, will be the hard part.”
“I have confidence in you…so do your best!” Clarine said shyly, blushing.
He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed, and laughed. “When you put it like that, I’ll just have to take a deep breath and give it my all.” He set the sharp ended stick down, reaching into the pack once more. This time, he retrieved a shovel, and quickly set to work digging up the grass inside the marked boundary. It was best to clear what would soon become the foundation and floor now, as it would be more difficult to remove stray plant life from inside the home, once the walls began to take shape. He sang a tune as he cracked the soft earth with the shovel blade, a song from a life he no longer had desire to return to.
Entranced, Clarine found herself listening to the unfamiliar tune, swaying back and forth to the rhythm.
“A little fairy comes at night,” he sang quietly in English , yet Clarine could hear him as clear as day.
“Her eyes are blue,
her hair is brown,
with silver spots upon her wings,
and from the moon she flutters down.”
His singing was perforated by the steady rhythm of the shovel striking the earth over and over again.
“She has a little silver wand,
and when a good child goes to bed,
she waves her hand from right to left,
and makes a circle round its head.”
The shovel struck the earth over and over again, dislodging it into the air as he swung the dirt and grass clumps away.
“And then it dreams of pleasant things,
of fountains filled with fairy fish,
and trees that bear delicious fruit,
and bow their branches at a wish.”
The end of the song coincided with the end of his laborious task. He turned to see Clarine watching him intently, a strange look in her eyes. When he waved at her, she seemed to snap out of a trance, and came walking hurriedly towards him.
“What’s the matter, Clarine?” He asked as she came up to him, somewhat concerned. “You looked really out of it for a moment there.”
She looked up at him with a intent look in her eyes.
“That song,” she said quickly. “That song that you were singing…” she trailed off, as if trying to find the words she sought to speak.
“Ah, you heard that?” He said, embarrassed that he had been overheard. Clarine nodded her head quickly in response. “That song…Dream Fairy, it’s called, was a song that my mother used to sing to me when I was a child.” He explained. He looked away, his eyes downcast. “…She died, when I was really young. I don’t remember anything about her, except that she would always sing that song to me before I went to sleep at night.” He shrugged his shoulders, saying “I guess that was a little depressing, huh?” he laughed uneasily, trying not to make Clarine worry. “Well, that was a long time ago, so I’m sorry for bringing up such a depressing to--!?”
He was cut off abruptly when Clarine wrapped her arms tightly around him, wrapping him in her fragile arms. . She had her face pressed against him, so he couldn’t see her eyes.
“When you were singing that song…” came her muffled voice, “you sounded so happy…” she said to him. “But…even though you sounded so happy, you had a painful expression on your face…” she trailed off, just holding onto him tightly, without saying another word or letting him go. He could feel her warmth and her racing heartbeat through his shirt, as well as the pressure of her arms wrapped around his back. Through her warm embrace, he could feel her concern for him welling up deep within her. Clarine…
Slowly, at first, a single tear flowed down his cheek, and gathered beneath his chin. Then, another followed, with another not far behind. As if a long sealed floodgate had just been released, the tears came one after another, collecting beneath his face before falling onto Clarine’s head, one at a time. If she could feel the moisture falling onto her head from her husband’s eyes, she said nothing indicating so. She held onto him, pressing herself against him, the only sound that he could hear coming from her was that of her steady heartbeat. Neither husband nor wife said a word aloud, as his tears conveyed his grief, as she conveyed her love and concern through her warmth.
“I’m sorry about that,” he said at last, after what felt like years as his tears finally began to stop. “I didn’t…” he stumbled on the words. “…I thought that, after all this time, I was okay, with her not being around anymore.”
Clarine looked up, shaking her head side to side furiously. “You loved your mother…right?” she half stated, half asked. “Then its okay to miss her…its okay to cry if it hurts.”
He felt touched that Clarine was trying to console him, and resolved to not make her worry anymore. He was glad to have her at his side, moments earlier when he felt his most vulnerable.
“Clarine…” he started, and faltered. Wiping the rest of his tears away, he tried again, more clearly this time. “Clarine, would you like me to teach you that song?”
“Eh?” came the surprised reply. “W-would you really?” she asked, seeming very enthused about the idea.
“As long as you are willing to learn, I’d be happy to teach it to you.” Came his reply with a smile, and he rubbed the top of her head lightly.
“Then,” she said back, with a bright smile, “please teach me!” the eagerness in her was unmistakable.
“Then, it’s a deal.” He said in reply, and Clarine reached up and kissed him gently, her cheeks a rosy pink.
“Well, then,” he said, averting his gaze, embarrassed yet again. “shall we get back to work?” Clarine’s answer came back in the affirmative, but she refused to let go of him.
She took the shovel out of his hand, and tossed it to the side.
“It’s okay to go back to work,” she said with a little smile. “But I want you to take a break, first.” Her eyes were locked with his, full of desire.
“And what do you suggest we do to relax, my dear?” he said teasingly, knowing fully well what she had in mind.
“You promised me earlier, remember?” She replied coyly. “I want you to make good on your promise.”
“I think I can do that.” He grinned. “Just try not to regret it too much, okay?” he teased, and he kissed her as he ran his arms down around her back.
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