Manuel was coming this way. And here she was, completely naked laying in the shallows of the water. She didn't know what to do. She could hear his footsteps coming closer.
"Don't come any closer!" she shouted, scrambling to get to her clothes. Where did she put them?
"Yunara, is that you?" called Manuel's voice. He had to have been just around the bend now.
Yunara hurried through the water in a panic. In her confusion, her foot slipped on a rock smooth and slippery with moss. She was sent sprawling, floundering in the water like an idiot.
"Yunara?" Manuel said, coming around the bend.
"No!" Yunara shouted. She thrust a hand forward, a tendril of water following her gesture and pushing into Manuel's chest, sending him flying.
"¡Que--!" Manuel barely made out before hitting the ground hard in a gush of water.
"Close your eyes!" Yunara demanded, completely flustered, her brown cheeks tinting red.
Manuel grunted on the ground, the wind knocked out of him. He covered his eyes with his hand, rolling to his side to get back on his feet. "Why did you do that?" he asked angrily.
"I'm sorry, I-I wasn't thinking. Keep your eyes closed!"Yunara got to her feet, trying to cover herself as much as possible as she started looking through the bushes for her clothes.
"They're closed, they're closed."
Frantically, she parted bunches of leaves and tall grass trying to remember where she put her clothes. Why did she swim so far away?
"What are you doing?" Manuel demanded impatiently.
"Looking for my clothes, I was bathing. That's why I told you not to come any closer!"
"How was I supposed to know? You just left without saying anything!"
"You were reading! I didn't want to bother you."
"You could have at least told me if you were going to be gone so long. You've been gone nearly an hour!"
Yunara didn't realize she had taken so long. Just where were her damn clothes? She had to admit she would have warned him about her leaving if he wasn't being so distant. But she decided not to say that, keeping her comments to herself to focus on looking.
"Are these your clothes? I think I just stepped on them."
Yunara's eyes fell to Manuel's feet. There was her bundle of clothes. "Yes, those are it," she said, her face turning a few tones redder.
Keeping his eyes closed, Manuel bent down and felt for her clothes. Sighing, he grabbed them and held them out. "Look at me. I'm completely wet!" he complained.
"I told you not to come any closer!" she said, taking them from his hands and hurrying to put them on.
"You didn't have to hit me!"
"I said I'm sorry. I panicked!"
"Are you dressed yet?"
"Almost, just wait."
Manuel sighed.
Yunara pulled her under garments on, then slipped her dress over her head. Her body was almost completely wetting her clothes, but she didn't have any other options.
"You can open your eyes now," Yunara permitted.
Manuel took his hand from his face saying, "Let's get moving. I'm tired of being here."
Without waiting for an answer, he started walking away.
Yunara wasn't left was much option but to pick up the rest of her things and follow after him.
"You don't have to be so curt, you know," Yunara remarked, really starting to simmer with him.
"And you didn't have to knock me over with whatever it is you do. Now we're even."
Yunara had to bite back a lot of comments that were rising up in her. Like it or not, they had to work together, and spending all their time arguing wasn't going to get them anywhere. When they got to the carriage, neither of them said anything to the other as they set on their way to Seville.
In a few hours, they reached the city. As their horse's hooves clopped against the cobblestone roads, Yunara couldn't help but admire the beautiful spanish buildings. All around them were other Spanish people in carriages, the women in colorful dresses and their hair tied up. Above them, the sky was gray, and droplets of summer rain had begun to fall, the cobblestone path glistening with moisture.
"Do you know where we need to go from here?" Manuel asked her.
"I don't know. I have no idea where the parallel point Lorenn mentioned could be. Maybe we should ask her."
"I'll leave you to it then," he said, pulling the carriage aside. "I'm coming in with you. Me estoy mojando."
"What?" Yunara asked as he dismounted and entered at her side.
"I am trying to say that I am starting to get wet. I could not remember how to say it in English. That reminds me, it will be hard to continue your Spanish lessons now, wouldn't it?"
"What a pain," she said, the sarcasm lost on Manuel. She took out the little silver bell and rung it. In a few moments Lorenn came flying into the carriage through the wall. "What do you need?" she asked.
"Where is the parallel point that will take us to Revett?" Yunara inquired.
"Manuel, take the reins. I will lead you where you need to go, and Yunara will help you parallel when you get there. It's important that you remember where you appear in Ravett, otherwise you won't remember where the horse and the carriage is when you come back."
Without saying a word, Manuel went back outside into the rain that was starting to pour and mounted the horse. Lorenn flew out of the carriage and started flying. She flew faster than the horse, and she stopped perched atop buildings and waited until Manuel caught up every once and awhile.
Finally, Lorenn stopped in front of a bar, then flew into an alley beside it. Manuel stopped and horse and Yunara came out of the carriage and followed her together. Lorenn waited for them at the end of it, standing in the ground. "Here is the parallel point. Yunara, I'll let you take it from here. Good luck." She winked at them and then vanished.
Manuel looked to Yunara, dripping wet from the rain. "What do we do now?"
Yunara came nearer to where Lorenn was standing and felt it. A small pain appeared in her temples. It was definitely a parallel point. "Stand here. This is where the parallel point is."
"How do you know?"
"I can just feel it. I'm used to the feeling. Now, close your eyes."
"What?"
"Just do it," Yunara told him more curtly. This time Manuel did as he was asked. "Now, take a step forward, let yourself fall... and you'll step into Caorfi."
Together, Yunara and Manuel stepped between worlds and paralleled into Ecencia, and Yunara was met with an image when they arrived that would forever scar her.
--
Wha? Three chapters in one week? Yep. Cuz I got it like that.
Nah, but really though, it's because the chapter before this was only half a part, I decided to go ahead and post the other half because... why not? Now you have a little extra something to read.
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