Free Writing: A Discovery pt. 2

For a time they walked in silence as was custom. He led her past many abandoned huts, down a long narrow valley and across many fields of green grass. Many times she stared at his back, thinking how little she knew about him. The bruises she felt, small pains that attested to the true mastery he had with the sword. No, mastery was the wrong word. She felt now that it was a synthesis, that the man worked within the blade. That when they stood with swords between them, steel grating against steel, the question of who he was faded behind the clear expression of his technique.

But the man behind the blade, she knew practically nothing more than what had been written about him before his disappearance. For five silent months he had said little except to instruct or correct. The silence imposed upon her had been hard at first, so used to expressing her opinion and talking out issues. These times had been tough and many nights she had cried herself to sleep in pity. But there had come a moment of resolve, and with that came the strength to endure to whatever end may come. Yet still on her mind lingered thoughts about this strange silent man who had lived amongst the most ferocious conditions humanity had ever known. How had he survived, what had he been through and how did it change him to the person she saw before her?

So with these distracting thoughts occupying her mind she failed to notice her surroundings nor that they had stopped. "Still are you occupied with thoughts of the world," said half in scorn. They had spent the last half-hour walking in a depression of land with high banks on either side. "The last few months have been hard and I have shown little lenience or patience, this I know. So tonight we will spend time talking and sharing, " saying this still with his back turned to her. At this short explanation he led her up the hill and over the ledge.

She had spent her time training in dark forests occasionally pierced with light, high mountain tops cold and windy, long hours sitting on hard wood inside the long hall and uncounted trips across the barren canyons of sand. Thus when she crested the top of the ridge and gazed down at the small beach of white sand and ocean aglow with the slanting, fiery setting sun she experienced a joy that brought tears to her eyes. A wild natural joy expressed in the complete appreciation of the landscape presented before her. The man squatted next to her and said "This is the only gift I will give to you, the only one I can give. I understand your feelings and know the spirit awakened inside. I found this beach just as you now find it. Tonight I will share what I know and answer whatever you may ask." With that he put his hand upon hers and turned his eyes towards hers.

And a golden hue descended sown upon all edges, setting aglow every object. Cast in rays of gold, two figures walked down upon the beach, hand in hand, watching the changing hues of the sky. So strong, like a sudden realization, yellows, oranges and purples. Colors straining the whole universe, awash in a timeless moment the two sat silent and shared together only what they received. And it wasn`t until the stars shone in their uncountable multitude that she uttered one word, spoken with the sincerity of those witnessing a miracle, "Beautiful" she whispered.