Chapter 5 - Jarad

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Chapter 5

Jarad

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Ariel POV

   I see Jarad walking over with Leira. When she suddenly grabs him I get worried, what if she wants him for herself? True she has never shown interest in anyone before but she is the more confident one of us, I would not stand a chance.  My chest expands in relief when she lets him go and heads off alone to her place.

   Jarad smiles crookedly at me as he approaches.

  “Ariel, yes?” That same lock of hair falls across his face when he bends to get a better look at me, “I got the right face this time, do I have the right name or are there more look-a-likes around here?”

  Right face? What did that mean?

  “Ah… nope just the two of us. Yes Ariel, that’s me.” I shrug not knowing what else to do.

  He holds out his hand to help me up, I feel a sharp shock as our fingers met. Jerking back, I shake my hand.

   “Sorry,” He quickly apologises, “I’m told it’s a side effect of flying. Should we try that again?”

   This time when I hold his hand I feel the same tingle but it turns warm gently glow. Focusing on his face I search for the future. Normally I don’t have to try so hard, but after a minute there is still nothing.

   Smiling widely I ask, “Lets go, anywhere you want to see first?”

   I am so happy I can sing. When I touch someone I can see all the many different futures on open to them. The image that is the clearest is the most likely outcome, if I am not careful I can see when and how people are going to die. When I was younger I would run around trying to save everyone, but I learned the hard way that everybody has their time. If I saved someone from a falling rock one day would choke on a soup bone the next. I was a hard lesson to learn but I learned the inevitability of fate.

  I now simply enjoy what's around me, but why bother starting any relationship when I see how it will all end.

   Not all my visions are caused by touch, though they are the strongest. Some appear out of the blue like the one about Siimon, or the one that about the danger.

   “Ariel, are you in there Ariel?”

   I was so deep in my thoughts I had zoned out.

   “Sorry I was far away. What did you say?” I ask, while my cheeks turning scarlet.  

   “I said I would like to first see your favourite place then go from there.”

    I glance at the sky and see that the sun is nearly overhead. “It is too late to show you my favourite place this morning. How about we spend Somnumat my place then head out once it’s cooler.”

   “Sounds like a plan.”

   As we are still holding hand, I drag him off to a line of stone steps leading to the upper level of houses. Once inside the cool rock walls of my home the temperature drops nicely.

  While we waited, we talked and ate. He told me about growing up in Alberi. The things he described were amazing, areas full of water and trees so high they touch the sky.

 About his mother who had fallen in love so many years ago with his trader father and escaped this desert heat. His three sisters, Helen, Della and Tria; two of which were married; and how Della was expecting her first child in a few months.

   He kept asking about life here, but he would find out that for himself soon enough and I couldn’t get enough of the foreign world he described. When I asked him why he had left a place he loved so much, he had gotten very quiet.

   “There is a movement that has stated in the south.” He leaned back on his seat and ran his hand through his hair. “Some people have been preaching about a new purity.“

   ”I don’t understand? Do you not go through the Blood Moon ceremony like here?” I ask if they didn’t then I might run away too. I hated watching the red moon wax knowing what it will bring suffering when it was full.

    ”No we have it. I think our acceptance level is higher then yours though, I don’t know why. But this new movement is looking the older people. “

    ”Looking at them for what?”

   The reason new mothers and babes were separated from the rest of the population was before the Blood moon is because if any man touches the child it is automatically accepted, becoming his responsibility. Once accepted there is nothing any one can do, it was not unheard of for a mother to try and hide a small mark with make up. Sometime it actually worked.

   “The rumour started in Lennuk; a town only two weeks travel away from Alberi, a woman caught her husband in bed with another. With their house already in flames, the woman chased her half-naked husband through the streets, hurling fireballs at him from her hands. “

   I stand agitated, “But that’s impossible, surely no one believes such rubbish.” Deep down I was worried.

    His perfect mouth turns down in sadness, ”I agree, it’s stupid. But the idea has taken off down there. It’s not a safe place to be right now; every one is suspicious of their neighbour looking for fault. When my mother got a letter from Aunt B, she thought it would be a good time for me to visit her hometown. Speaking of which didn’t you say that you were going to show me around?”

 ”Right, well let’s go.”

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Author’s note - Somnumis like a sestina. Taken when it is too hot to go outside.

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