Chapter 4: Se-le-ni

Me-la-ni got up, stumbled and straightened herself. We hadn’t travelled in a long while, and it would take all her strength to do it. It was a Healer’s speciality, but I knew she wasn’t fit for it now. But it wasn’t as if I would be able to tell her otherwise.

“Stay here”, she said, and walked away a short distance, where she stopped and closed her eyes.

I knew better than to disturb her when she was preparing, and so I watched her raise her arms above her head, drawing circles in the air and then bringing it down to the earth. It was a movement I had seen countless times, but I never thought I would experience it this early on in our journey. She was always at her most beautiful when she concentrated, her brow in a small frown, her mouth pursed slightly, and the rest of her face relaxed. I could watch her for the rest of my time on this earth.

She let her arms fall to the side, opened her eyes and turned to me. I barely had time to turn my gaze away and she caught it and, to my surprise, held it.

“What is it?”, she asked.

“Nothing”, I murmured and broke it.

She glanced at me curiously but didn’t say anything more about it as she walked up to me.

“We’re ready.”

I got up, and she took hold of the sleeve of my jacket. I closed my eyes, preparing for what would come, when she suddenly dropped it.

“Something’s wrong…”, she whispered.

I opened my eyes. She was standing with her hand to her mouth, fidgeting with her lips as she always did when she was unsure of something.

“What’s wrong?”, I asked.

“I… don’t know.”

She dropped her hand and turned to watch the city landscape stretching out below us.

“Something isn’t right.”

“We can’t travel?”

“We can but… There’s something else.”

I waited for her, there was no way to rush her when she was thinking. She turned to me.

“We don’t have any other choice, we’ll have to deal with it when it comes.”

She took hold of my jacket again, and as I closed my eyes, I felt the familiar force whirling around us. It wouldn’t be long now until… The yank came just as unexpectedly as ever, and it thrust me to the side, and I felt the ground disappear underneath my feet. I didn’t fall, you never fell when travelling. You simply floated until the destination arrived, and you were on safe ground again. At least, that’s what I had been told, I had never opened my eyes to confirm it.

Slowly, the soles of my feet began to feel the familiar firmness beneath them again, and I dared to look around. We were standing in a forest, with no civilisation as far as the eye could see. I turned to look at Me-la-ni.

“Where have you taken us?”

She glanced around, making sure we were in the right spot.

“Somewhere safe.”

She walked a short distance into the woods, came back and said,

“We’ll wait here, someone will come”.