Hope

Chapter Twenty-Two: Differences

The days seemed to flow into each other as we waited for Zack to recover. In two days, he was allowed to get out of his bed and walk around the wagon. In four days, he could leave the wagon, but only for short periods of time. And then six days after Cloudyeye had given him the medicine, he was declared cured and allowed to carry on as normal. It was that evening on the sixth day that I eavesdropped on a conversation between him and Jing. They were in the wagon, Jing sitting on a crate and Zack on his makeshift bed. I was in cat form so as to not attract attention and I was curious.

"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be human?" Jing asked Zack, clasping one of his strong hands in one of her slender ones.

Zack chuckled. "A lot more than I used to. It would be wonderful to be able to get a dunking without fear of getting sick. Or to be able to touch someone without needing mental shields so I won't sense what the other person is thinking and feeling. Humans, whether they know it or not, have many advantages."

"What of elves?" Jing asked. "You are stronger than us and you can definitely hear much better than we can. Don't you agree that elves have advantages too?"

Zack raised his eyebrows at Jing. "Wishing things were different? I don't blame you. It would be a lot easier if we were the same species."

Jing laughed. "I wish every day that I could be like you. Then I could know your needs, your wants, and your desires. A rift wouldn't have formed between us so easily."

"I have also wished that I could become human like you, Jing," Zack whispered, his dark eyes glinting. "That way I could follow you wherever you went and not fear being shot or frozen to death unless you were in the same danger. Other humans would not hate me and I could be a husband worthy of you in their eyes."

Jing looked at him solemnly. "I don't need their approval to know that I belong with you. I love you. There is nothing that could bring me to want to leave you forever. We were born for each other."

They sat there looking at each other for several moments. Then, Zack said something so softly I almost didn't hear him. "If you want to see the world the way elves do, there is a way. But you will have to let me touch your mind. It will probably be disconcerting at first but you'll quickly get used to it. I'll also need to break the link after a few minutes. If we get too close, we could be linked permanently and I don't think you want that right now. But we could do it."

Jing sat up straighter. "Really?" She sounded almost breathless. "But Zack... I can't make you human. Even for a few moments."

Zack chuckled. "That doesn't matter. I'm not making you an elf, either. I'm merely showing you how I see the world. Aren't there potions that will allow me to sense the world the way a human does?"

"Those are dangerous, but they do exist," Jing acknowledged. "So... what do you do to alter my senses?"

Zack shifted slightly in his seat. The growing darkness made it hard even for me to make out what was going on. "I will just place my hands on the sides of your head. You'll feel a tingling sensation, but you'll need to ignore it as best as you can. And when you feel ready, open your eyes."

"Is your magic back?" Jing asked.

"Yes," Zack said. "Not at full strength, but better than it was." He then leaned forward and reached across to Jing. "Would you mind if I did it now?"

"No."

I could sense his smile in the dark. "Okay. We'll want to be outside, though. The inside of the wagon isn't the best place in the world to have elven senses."

Jing chuckled and the two of them stood and jumped down from the wagon. They then walked hand in hand past the others and came to a stop on the top of a small hill just beyond camp. The moon was out, nearly full but not quite. It was enough to illuminate the outlines of the two figures that stood on the hill with a silvery, almost ethereal light. I watched as the two darkened figures drew closer together. Zack had put his hands on the sides of Jing's head and he was chanting something in an elven dialect under his breath. Jing was eerily still as he spoke the foreign words. I wondered what he was saying in those sounds. The words soon grew softer, and then stopped entirely.