Objects only held clues to how they would be handled in the future, like the woman's brush she was now holding from the desk, despite the fact that no woman besides her had ever visited the cave. Every small relic that adorned the cave, she touched with her hand, becoming more intimate with the person that would hold them. There were medallions that the Krethans wore to identify themselves amongst their own and daggers of different shapes and sizes. But soon she was drawn into one.
Allowing her fingers to lightly glide across the jewel studded handle, she marveled at the simple weight of it in her hand. Willow observed her to see whether she would recognize the dagger. Looking back over her shoulder at Willow, she carefully placed the dagger back into its place.
Her small hands were inspecting a clay jar of some sort, lifting it to her curious slender nose so she could sniff the inside of the newly fashioned object. She lifted her eyes from the jar, turning to a smiling Willow. The jar had just been fashioned a few days before to hold the wine to be used in an offering made to the Sayers, the offering that only she would be allowed to make. Soon, the precocious Eunice was fascinated with the many scrolls that were in front of her on a huge desk. Approaching the desk, she gently thumbed through them, coming to focus on one in particular. Running her hands across the words as if sensing the presence of the hand that wrote them, her eyes welled up with tears.
"You recognize any of these?" a curious Willow asked. But not only could she recognize them, she could look up into the face of the one who penned them. The gentle face of one of the many known as 'The Sayers'.
Faces and voices she had mysteriously heard all of her short life. They were like shadows cast upon walls that only she could see, voices that beckoned to her from behind the darkness of the forest.
But it wasn't until now that she realized just who they were and the purpose they held in her life. Silently, she nodded her head. Willow was trying his best to contain his joy. He was awestruck; the proof of his diligence was now standing beside him.
"The language was very difficult to understand at first," Willow coyly confessed.
"With a little practice, I've managed to translate it into my own, or should I say our own," he finished, smiling over at her.
For the first time, he would actually have the opportunity to allow someone else other than his very devoted assistants hear his translation. Quickly, he pulled open another scroll written in the language of Thad, the language of most Krethan vampires. He opened it and began to read. But she didn't need his translation to understand what was written about the 'only daughter of the Sayers' and 'the promised Mother.' Or to hear his poorly mistranslation of her name, Eunesla. While he was rather clumsily making his way through the translation, Eunice had finished reading the original version of the scroll written in Sufti, the language of the Sayers. Looking into her young face, he felt foolish. If she was who he believed her to be, she was already well versed in this matter. Slightly embarrassed, he clumsily rolled the scroll closed.
"Forgive my ignorance," he mumbled, gesturing with his hand as if trying to grasp the lost words floating in front of him. "I am certain that you are already well aware of these things."
It went without saying that Willow had a tendency to babble a bit. But she needed to touch him, feel him with her hands to validate his existence. She knew of his hard work and dedication, the investment of time.
Slowly, she approached him while placing her hand over his chest, staring deeply up into his face. His eyes were filled with gentleness and kindness, unlike the cold , calculating glare that seemed to always be present upon the rotund face of Kimbrough. With her free hand, she gently massaged the side of his face, closing her eyes as a bewildered Willow allowed her hand to roam freely. She could see it all now.
His journey into enlightenment had its beginning with a need to day slumber sixty-seven years ago. Remembering the cave nearby while traveling the small town of Brier, he ventured here, the huge clay boxes that housed the scrolls.
The loneliness, he was being held prisoner by it. The taunts and harassment he received from other Krethans. The many nights in solitude pondering over writings that held nothing more for him then fascination. A fascination that he was sure would lead him to his own true destiny. And then, there was something else.
Something that was being concealed, locked away behind a wall of logic and reason. It was too strong for her to look into. Looking down tenderly into her eyes, she understood it. She had sensed it on the night he made her; she could feel it as he held her tightly in his arms that night. They were gazing into each other's eyes, but his heart was lost among the mist of fog and shadows. He had devoted his life to studying the Sayers; their ways, their history, their writings. How they prepared for the Ascension almost four thousand years ago. This had been his life's work which had been just as obscured and mysterious as the scrolls. In all of his one hundred and fifteen years as a Vampire, he had never required or sought the comfort or affections of a woman.
Her eyes slowly fell to her hand upon his chest, fully aware that despite her present tattered look, neither would he be in need of such affections of someone as young and as awkwardly beautiful as herself. Could her heart have led her astray?
she wondered as he softly began to pat her hand resting on his chest, smiling warmly at her. Carefully, he broke away from her to stand over on the other side of the table, leaving her hand in place where he had just been standing.
She watched him remove the scrolls from the table. Her hands came to rest at her sides. He could see the despondency in her eyes, but her disappointment would have to settle for now. Maybe it was her appearance, she thought.
Looking down at herself, she imagined she looked and smelled as if she had just rose from the dead. She didn’t look her possible best right now. Willow was placing the scrolls back into their receptacles with care, then inside the large, clay box they had been discovered inside. She noticed him holding one in particular in his hand. Unlike him, she didn’t need to have it translated from the original language of Sufti to understand the content of the writing. Over the silence of the cave, he could hear her whispering to herself. He turned his head slightly in her direction, trying to read her lips though they barely parted as she spoke. To his amazement it was the story of the Ocean, which was written inside the scroll. He had just begun to translate enough of it to be familiar with the story of a dying teacher and his pupil. The teacher's last request to his student had been that he, without taking anything with him, go to the beautiful ocean and bring it back with him. However, he could not touch the waters with his hands or any part of his body or the waters would forever be tainted.
The student wasn't really sure how he would be able to complete his teacher's audacious dying request, nevertheless, he set foot towards his journey. The water of the ocean was majestic; clear and sparkling like thousands of diamonds underneath the warmth of the sun. But understanding his master's words, he knew that he could not place his hands or feet, or even his face, into the waters, for then it would become tainted. Not sure how to resolve his dilemma, he stood quietly upon the shore, allowing the gentle tide to lull him into serenity.
Then, he understood how to take the ocean back to his master. Looking over into Willow’s eyes, in her childlike voice she recited the last paragraph: "The student, now reunited with his master, stands before him. The master asks, 'Where is the beautiful ocean I sent you to bring back for me?' The student then places his master's hand over his heart. His master smiles, 'Now it shall always be with the both of us.' Like the beautiful ocean, the scrolls are in your heart?!"
Willow nodded silently. "Yes, they are!"
Placing a hand lovingly over her chest she said, "Now they are in mine as well."
